The effects of external cues on cross-border e-commerce product sales: An application of the elaboration likelihood model

PLoS One. 2023 Nov 9;18(11):e0293462. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0293462. eCollection 2023.

Abstract

In response to the soaring demand for imported goods among Chinese consumers, this study innovatively investigates the role of external cues on consumer behavior on cross-border e-commerce platforms, utilizing advanced data crawling techniques to extract data from Tmall Global. Guided by the Elaboration Likelihood Model, this research unveils key determinants affecting consumer purchasing decisions, contributing novel insights to e-commerce literature and methodologies. Our analysis discovers that increased picture comments significantly boost sales and that source credibility, product collections, and price discounts also play pivotal roles, especially for experiential products. We further explore a nuanced, inverted U-shaped relationship between product title length and sales, offering a foundational understanding of non-linear relationships in consumer behavior and presenting practical implications for enhancing marketing strategies. This study, while acknowledging limitations like data access constraints, provides strategic insights into optimizing product information presentation and broadens understanding of consumer decision-making processes, thus adding substantial value to ongoing e-commerce discourse.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Commerce*
  • Consumer Behavior
  • Cues*
  • Likelihood Functions

Grants and funding

The research was generously funded by the Zhejiang Soft Science Research Fund. The project is titled "Research on the Competitiveness Improvement Strategy of Chinese Time-honored Brands from the Perspective of Customer Interaction and Brand Vitality - Empirical Analysis from the Retail Econometric Model," bearing the grant number 2022C35076.