DOES ONLINE CONVENIENCE MAKE YOU WANT TO BUY MORE? SOCIAL PRESENCE AND PURCHASE INTENTION IN SOCIAL COMMERCE

Jie Yang
Lea Prevel Katsanis
Jordan LeBel
Concordia University

ABSTRACT

This research study employs the engagement-generation process to examine how social
presence and shopping convenience affect consumer participation in a social commerce (s-
commerce) context. RED, a novel social commerce app with features do not present in other
similar apps, is used to determine whether different formats of content result in different levels of
social presence and whether consumers’ purchase intentions varied when exposed to different
content. The results also suggest some methods for improving online purchase methods to
increase customer engagement and online purchases.
An experimental design was used, and the data were collected from a random online
sample with Chinese subjects. Results suggest that video conveys a higher level of social presence
than text, but format does not significantly affect online purchase intention. To increase user
engagement on social commerce platforms, marketers can use more text to deliver content and
improve the level of purchase convenience at the same time. This may improve user purchase
intention. In addition, the effect of social presence on online purchase intention is moderated by
online purchase convenience. Therefore, social presence may increase customer engagement and
online purchase. This study opens a new line of research on different formats of content on social
commerce platform.

Keywords: Video, text, Social presence, online purchase intention, online purchase convenience, content format,
click to buy button, Chinese consumers