Nudge, click, buy

: nudging in e-commerce

Abstract

Today, consumers face an enormous pool of options to choose from in their day-to-day purchases. With the boom of online channels, e-commerce platforms present a choice environment where decision-making can be especially overwhelming and time-consuming. To remain competitive firms must adapt their choice architecture to this environment. One of the most relevant aspects of choice architecture is how products are presented which directly impacts purchase decisions. This impact can be amplified with the application of nudges in product display. These tools are beneficial in two ways, they nudge consumers towards better suited options and protect freedom of choice. To understand nudges’ impact on the purchase intention this paper uses an online questionnaire to analyse how consumers react to the changes in choice architecture. This is accomplished with the development of two experiments, one related to the economic default nudge and another to the social norm nudge. Findings suggest that the application of a social norm nudge is an effective method to change consumers’ behaviour in e-commerce purchases. In contrast, insignificant results were obtained regarding the default nudge impact on online purchases of technology accessories. Furthermore, the analysis of the direct impact of nudges on purchase intention revealed that there isn’t a significant impact on it, but nudges do affect it through changes in purchase satisfaction. Lastly, this study bears relevant theoretical and practical implications in the study of nudge effects on online choice architecture. The paper fills a gap in the literature on the influence of product display on consumer behaviour.

Date of Award	24 Jan 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Daniel Fernandes (Supervisor)