In the era of e-commerce information explosion, balancing the relationship between users’ information costs and shopping basket value is crucial. Therefore, this study integrates Information Foraging Theory (IFT) and Economic Model of Search (EMS), aiming to analyze how search processes vary across user groups and impact the final basket value.
This study examines how search costs and assessment affect shopping basket value (BV) among users with distinct purchase patterns: single-item (SeC) vs multi-item (SiC) shoppers, highlighting the moderating role of information cues. Using a dataset of 147,677 actual transaction records from JD.cn, we analyze these relationships through a multivariate mixed-effects model.
Results reveal a nonlinear impact of search costs on BV: Pview (search depth) exhibits an inverted U-shaped relationship, while Variety (search breadth) shows a U-shaped pattern, with effects being significantly stronger in the SiC group compared to the SeC group. Search assessment (ConS) negatively affects BV for the SeC group but not for the SiC group. The moderating effect of information cues (SdPrice) on the search costs-BV relationship varies by demographic segments.
This study addresses critical gaps in the literature by segmenting users and quantifying search costs to elucidate the relationship between search behaviors and final basket value, advancing our understanding of e-commerce user behavior. The findings offer managerial implications, such as differentiated strategies for SeC/SiC groups and tailored price tactics to optimize e-commerce operations and enhance BV.
