The influence of choice set size and time-lapse accuracy on E-commerce Decision-Making under different product types

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that in the case of time restrictions, consumers can indeed stimulate their willingness to buy. However, there is another important influence on the sale of goods-the size of the selection of goods. The conclusions of previous studies on the size of the selection set have diverged. Some scholars believe that consumers can benefit from a wealth of choices, while others believe that they spend a lot of time and effort and fail to find the satisfaction that meets their needs. Thus, the study began with two main factors, studying the influence of the size and accuracy of the selection set on consumers' choice satisfaction and choice difficulty, and adding common commodity categories: hedonistic products and practical products. The study has conducted 3 pre-experiments and one formal experiment. The main purpose of the pre-experiment is to identify specific hedonistic and practical products. In the main experiment, between-subject design of 2 (large selection set, small selection set) ×2 (milliseconds, seconds) ×2 (hedonics, utilities) was used. A total of 254 students (133 males and 121 females) were randomly assigned to eight groups. The results of the research ultimately showed that consumers had the best choice satisfaction and difficulty in the large choice set-low time elapsed accuracy (seconds) group and the small choice set-high time elapsed precision (milliseconds). For utilities, consumers are more satisfied with their choices at the large selection set (12 pieces) - low time elapsed accuracy (seconds) setting, and less difficult to select at the small choice set (4 pieces) - high time elapsed precision (milliseconds). For hedonists, under the setting of the small choice set (4 pieces) - high time elapsed accuracy (milliseconds), consumers have higher satisfaction with their choice and lower sense of difficulty in choosing.