Title: Consumer attitude toward using smart shopping carts: a comparative analysis of Italian and Croatian consumer attitudes

Authors: Gandolfo Dominici; Matea Matić; Tindara Abbate; Davide Di Fatta

Addresses: Department SEAS, Università di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze ed. 13, 90128 Palermo, Italy; Business Systems Laboratory, viale Fr. Scaduto 2/d, 90144, Palermo, Italy ' Department of Management, University of Dubrovnik, Lapadska obala 7, 20000 Dubrovnik, Croatia ' Department of Economics, Università di Messina, Via dei Verdi, 75 – 98122, Messina, Italy ' Department of Economics, Università di Messina, Via dei Verdi, 75 – 98122, Messina, Italy

Abstract: This paper aims to explore consumer attitudes toward using smart shopping cart, considering country of origin, gender, age, and intentions to use smart shopping carts while purchasing. Moreover, it investigates the influence of extracted factors on consumers' attitudes toward using smart shopping carts and the users' levels of digital competence. The data was collected through survey questionnaires using a purposive sample of 313 Croatian and Italian respondents. To this end, we applied statistical methodologies such as binary logistic regression, factor analysis, and analysis of variance. We found that, compared with Croatians, Italian respondents have a more positive attitude toward using smart shopping carts, regardless of age or gender. Moreover, we found that consumers are influenced by two major factors: functional and convenience. Consumers who purchase for functionality reasons will have preferences associated with faster product selection and speeding up the purchasing process without fearing that they lack the necessary expertise. If functionality has the tendency to increase, respondents will not lack ICT knowledge when purchasing with the smart cart.

Keywords: internet retailing; smart shopping carts; functional factors; convenience factors; Croatia; Italy; consumer attitudes; country of origin; gender; age; purchase intentions; digital competence; smart carts.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEMR.2016.078952

International Journal of Electronic Marketing and Retailing, 2016 Vol.7 No.3, pp.229 - 244

Received: 08 Feb 2016
Accepted: 11 Feb 2016
Published online: 06 Sep 2016 *

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