Influence of Product Presentation on Consumer Purchase Decisions of Households in Nairobi City County, Kenya

Influence of Product Presentation on Consumer Purchase Decisions of Households in Nairobi City County, Kenya

Linsey Wanjiku Waweru¹, Stephen Ntuara Kiriinya², Elyjoy Micheni³, Hellen Kabue⁴

^1,2,4 Department of Business and Management Studies, The Technical University of Kenya

³Tom Mboya University

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2025.90400373

Received: 02 April 2025; Accepted: 07 April 2025; Published: 17 May 2025

ABSTRACT

The aim of the study was to establish the influence of product presentation on consumer purchase decisions of households in Nairobi City County, Kenya.  Product presentation was measured using four constructs, namely, awareness, demonstration, product presentation and user reviews and comments.  The study adopted cluster using simple random sampling. Purposeful sampling was utilised to select the household member who shopped online the most. Primary data was collected from 400 respondents. The study employed structured questionnaires with both open-ended and close-ended questions. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 27 was used for data analysis. The study findings showed that, customers presented diverse views of their online purchases, making it necessary for online sellers to identify who their actual and potential customers are.

Keywords: Influence, Product Presentation, Households, Consumer Purchase Decisions.

BACKGROUND

The rapid growth of online shopping has given birth to new business trends that are rapidly attaining commercial prominence (Kumar, 2018). Although the debate over the operational meaning of online shopping continues unabated, the emerging paradigm that uses internet for commerce has expanded at a phenomenal rate and has shifted the competitive dynamics of several retail sectors (Lee, 2015). Customers may now get answers to all of their queries about the products they are interested in thanks to the recent trend of internet purchasing. This includes having the ability to purchase goods and services via online marketplaces, as well as read and comment on them (Gutiérrez Flórez, 2017). In the spirit and context of a hypercompetitive and ceaselessly changing contemporary business environment, organizations across the globe increasingly seek value for their products through appealing online presentations that trigger customer interest (Christofi, 2018).

LITERATURE REVIEW

Product Presentation And Consumer Purchase Decisions

The ability of internet consumers to make decisions is crucial for online marketers to succeed. Accordingly, online product presentation is a key component of online merchants’ marketing strategies to draw in online customers (Hidayanto, 2017). As the internet has developed, new web-based multimedia capabilities are employed in online product displays to give consumers additional tools for evaluating products and making decisions about purchases (Lin, 2019).

Online marketers enjoy providing their clients with comprehensive product information. Customers’ decisions to make purchases online are influenced by the quality of the product information they need to assess products (Jai, 2021). In an effort to enhance the quality of information offered to customers to help them make judgements about what to buy, online marketers have been steadily enhancing the appearance, feel, and functionality of online product presentations (Vogrincic-Haselbacher, 2021). To increase market demand and improve information flow, online marketers try to customise online product presentations for each major target market. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct further research on how various target markets see online promotional materials (De Mooij, 2019). A study examining gender disparities in online consumer purchase decision-making suggested that future research should take into account a varied range of individuals from all socioeconomic backgrounds in order to more broadly generalise the study’s findings (Lin, 2019).

Online shopping improves product knowledge and changes attitudes towards the product, according to a study on the usefulness of social media platforms in influencing consumer purchasing decisions (Verma, 2015). Customers are more likely to participate in product discussions and share information with group members when they are more knowledgeable of the product and have a more positive attitude (Hamari, 2016). Members of the group who shop online may become more aware of the brand as a result of the ripple effect. Thus, if effectively channeled, these platforms can produce commerce for businesses with minimal expenditure (Langley, 2017). According to the study’s findings, marketers should think about using online purchasing to help spread their message through other components of the communication mix. Additionally, these websites can be used effectively to save advertising costs and engage customers in a profitable manner (Verma, 2015). Additionally, more research should be done on the purchasing habits and information satisfaction of relationship-oriented and transaction-oriented customers when they shop online (Rita, 2019).

Product demonstration is also key as it helps consumers in purchase decisions by offering different ways of sensory or aesthetic information (Mugge, 2018). Furthermore, online product demonstration affects the shopping experiences of consumers since detailed product descriptions, product demonstrations and product usage suggestions can help consumers to make purchase decisions (Bleier, 2019). Online product demonstration helps to create a positive perception about the ease of use and usefulness of online stores among its customers (Lin, 2019). A study on the effect of online product demonstration on customer responses concluded that online product demonstration, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness will lead to positive behavioral intentions. This study considered only the cognitive states of the customers and the emotional or affective states were not taken into account (Varghese, 2019).

However, research on the dynamics of user comments is still under developed involving sentiment analysis or opinion mining (Zong, 2021). This is the area of learning that analyzes users’ evaluations, attitudes, opinions, emotions, sentiments, appraisals and some aspects such as services, individual issues, goods, organizations, actions, topics, and their elements (Bhalerao, 2016).

Through online shopping, a huge number of reviews and opinions are given by the users that reflect whether a product is good or bad. These reviews need to be explored, analyzed and organized for better decision making (Pietronudo, 2022). A review of the expanding field of interdisciplinary research on user comments came to the conclusion that the ambiguity surrounding user reviews and comments studies is reflected in the differences in characteristics between and within disciplines (Schindler, 2021). Since this is a field that is undergoing constant, rapid, technological, economic, and social development, more research should be done to get useful insights on customer reviews and comments (Wang, 2023).

Theoretical Framework

The Theory of Reasoned Action, acknowledges that behavioural intentions are direct influences on behaviour. The weight of attitude and subjective norm contributes to the achievement of the intended goal, which is the result of intention (Ajzen, 1985). The Theory of Reasoned Action will be used in this study to examine the impact of online shopping. According to the theory, two components are expected to influence behaviour intention, which are attitude and subjective norm.  The dimensions of product presentation are proposed to influence the intention of consumers to shop online.

Conceptual Framework

Figure 1 Independent Variable  Dependent Variable  

Kenyan households’ purchasing decisions are influenced by product presentation. The Theory of Reasoned Action, directed the creation of the independent variable product presentation and its relationship with the dependent variable purchase decisions. Customers’ decisions to make purchases online are influenced by the quality of the product information they need to assess products (Jai, 2021). In an effort to enhance the quality of information offered to customers to help them make judgements about what to buy, online marketers have been steadily enhancing the appearance, feel, and functionality of online product presentations (Vogrincic-Haselbacher, 2021).

Study Population, Sampling And Sampling Procedure

The population of this study was 985,016 family decision makers based on households in Nairobi. Household types in Nairobi include: one-person households, households made up of a couple without children, households made up of a couple and children, lone-parent households, and households including extended family. In this study, a household is a buying center where any member of a buying center can make a family purchase decision (Senevirathna, 2022). A list of households from which a family decision maker was selected was part of the study’s sampling frame. A sample enables a researcher to gain information about the population (Kothari, 2016). The sample size was determined using a formula by Yamane (1974).

The sample size was determined through random inclusion due to the dynamism of households installing internet in their homes and the fact that they have mobile smart phones that enable them to access internet. A mixed sampling design was employed in this investigation. Nairobi City County’s eight (8) constituencies’ homes were identified by cluster sampling. Households were also chosen from each cluster using simple random sampling. Purposeful sampling was utilised to select the household member who shopped online the most in order to find study participants. This was to improve the quality of data, since the person had more encounters with online shopping.  The statistical package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 27 was used to edit, code, and analyse the data collected.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Table 1

DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS ON PRODUCT PRESENTATION AND CONSUMER PURCHASE DECISIONS

The Theory of Reasoned Action postulates that there are many areas within an individual’s attitude that can change with varying consequences. The variable product presentation is one dimension that influence consumers purchase decisions. This study has revealed that consumers purchase from online sellers who are already established, offer detailed description of their products and allow customers reviews of their products. The quality of product information, as the results of this study show, is necessary as it enables consumers to evaluate products, thus impacting their online purchase decisions. The study has also shown that product presentation helps consumers to easily understand the features of the product. It also offers a variety of choices of products which consumers can go for in the shortest time possible. The results of the study further reveal that with inadequate information, consumers are not influenced to buy. Consequently, they shun online sellers who do not give sufficient information for their products. Equally, sometimes consumers get disappointed with the products that do not match the descriptions given. The study has also revealed that consumers want to get the same quality of product with the description given, and that product reviews assist them to make purchase decisions.

The results of the linear regression indicated that R² is equal to 37.5% and R is 61.2%. This is an indication that there is a strong relationship between product presentation and consumer purchase decisions of households in Nairobi City County, Kenya. In online shopping the main themes and attraction are centered on the customer. Consumers make inferences about the attractiveness of a product based on information provided by retailers. Products that are superior result in positive perception from consumers. The perspective of e-commerce enterprises, online reviews and product presentation helps consumers understand the reviews given as well as view different types of reviews so that consumers can judge the product quality more correctly and make informed purchase decisions. In terms of consumers’ perspective, the study finds that the availability of negative reviews makes consumers to pay attention to the negative reviews and, as a result, their perceived risk increases. This in turn obfuscates consumers and increases their purchase delay.

Areas Of Further Research

Further studies in the future from the research findings may help gauge investigations in the context of online purchasing and post-purchase assessment. Due to its heavy reliance on data, the current study required quantification through organization, coding, presentation, and interpretation. Additional research might examine consumer issues, compare various items and online vendors, and provide insight into what motivates consumers to shop online or not. Due to the distinct features of each geographic zone and the ever-changing demographic trends that may change the shopping dimensions that affect customer purchasing decisions, the findings of this study cannot be broadly adapted and applied equally to other regions.

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