Int. J. Electronic Marketing and Retailing, Vol. 8, No.

1, 2017 1

Drivers of online purchase intention on Singles’ Day:

a study of Chinese consumers

Xiaqing Zhao*
Xi’an Qingsong Technology Co., Ltd.,
7 Biyuan 2nd Road,
Hi-Tech Development Zone,
Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710118, China
Email: charlenezhao@sina.cn
*Corresponding author

Hooi Lai Wan

Nottingham University Business School,
The University of Nottingham,
Jalan Broga, 43500 Semenyih
Email: Carol.Hooi@nottingham.edu.my

Abstract: The purpose of the present study is to understand the drivers of

Chinese consumers online purchase intention on Singles’ Day. Data were
collected from 214 Chinese consumers who have online purchase experience
on Singles’ Day. The results show that consumers online purchase intention is
positively related to promotion, e-store atmosphere, word of mouth, and
advertising and consumption rituals with either direct or indirect relationship
with mediators such as perceived value, shopping enjoyment, impulsive buying
orientation, and browsing. More specifically, advertising and consumption
rituals exhibit a stronger influence among all drivers. The empirical evidence of
this study will contribute to the literature in online shopping purchase intention
as little research has addressed drivers of consumers online purchase intention
on Singles’ Day.

Keywords: drivers; online shopping; purchase intention; Singles’ Day; China.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Zhao, X. and Wan, H.L.
(2017) ‘Drivers of online purchase intention on Singles’ Day: a study of
Chinese consumers’, Int. J. Electronic Marketing and Retailing, Vol. 8, No. 1,
pp.1–20.

Biographical notes: Zhao Xiaqing is a graduate of MSc Management with

Merit from Nottingham University Business School with the research
interests in consumer behaviour in electronic marketing and e-commerce. Her
dissertation ‘Drivers of online purchase intention on Singles’ Day’ was given
distinction.

Hooi Lai Wan is an Associate Professor of Human Resource Management

and Organisational Behaviour at the University of Nottingham. She is the
author of several books such as Governance and Citizenship in Asia:
Organisational Justice and Citizenship Behaviour in Malaysia and Human
Capital Management Practices in Malaysia: Local and Foreign Perspectives.

Copyright © 2017 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

2 X. Zhao and H.L. Wan

1 Introduction

Singles’ Day, falling on every November 11th, is a day of celebration for those people
who are still living a single life. This date is chosen based on the connection between
singles and the number ‘1’. Singles’ Day was initially celebrated in Nanjing University in
China in 1993 as a version of Valentine’s Day for unattached people. This tradition is
gradually carried into society from university as students graduate. Some parties are held
on Singles’ Day aiming to create romantic chances for single person. November 11, 2011
was marked as the Singles day of the century because of having six ‘1’ (QUARTZ,
2014).
Singles’ Day was once a little known celebration day. Now it is the world’s largest
online shopping event surpassing US Cyber Monday in terms of sales with the help of
Taobao advertising it as an occasion to splurge on oneself. For instance, men could easily
seek solace by buying electronic devices – an answer to Valentine’s Day and most other
popular festivals in China with a focus on buying gifts for others (QUARTZ, 2014). On
Singles’ Day, most e-retailers in Taobao and Tmall are required to offer discounts and
those having 50% discounts are featured on the home page of Tabao.com and Tmall.com
to attract consumers’ attention. It is reasonable to assume that a large group of consumers
are lured by big discounts while not everyone falls into this category. A woman from
Zhejiang province bought herself a 13.33-carat diamond at the cost of $3.37 million
(WantChinaTimes, 2013). Nowadays Singles’ Day has become a special day not only for
singles, but for all fashionable people.
The sales on Singles’ Day in 2012 hit $3 billion, and this figure reached $5.75 billion
on the next Singles’ Day in 2013, more than the combined sales of US retailers during
Cyber Monday and Black Friday (Bloomberg, 2013). Approximately 402 million
people, almost a third of the Chinese adult population, visited Taobao or Tmall on the
Singles’ Day and 100 million RMB was spent every minute over the course of 24 hours.
Moreover, it is astonishing that within the six minutes of the start of November 11, 2013,
one billion RMB transactions on both platforms has been made. Since Alibaba initially
launched its first sales campaign in 2009 on Singles’ Day, it ended up with a continuous
rise in sales by virtue of its two platforms year by year. The total transaction revenue on
the passing Singles’ Day, 11/11/15 comes to $14.3 billion (Bloomberg, 2015). Thus
several rivals have joined the Singles’ Day bandwagon, for instance, Jingdong Mall,
Suning.com, and Jumei.com, which all provide specific marketing campaign to boost
sales. However, the performances of rivals are incomparable to that of Taobao
Marketplace and Tmall (Bloomberg, 2013).
The significance of this study is twofold in terms of its theoretical contribution and
managerial contribution. Firstly, there have been extensive studies regarding
understanding consumer online purchase behaviour. For instance, Park and Kim (2003)
identify information of an online store such as product and service information quality,
and user interface quality as important predictors of consumers purchase intention.
Nonetheless, little academic literature has been done with a focus on drivers of
consumers online purchase intention on a particular day except for several studies done in
the context of Black Friday or Cyber Day in the states. Specifically, Swilley and
Goldsmith (2013) argue that consumers purchase intention on Cyber Monday is mainly
due to gift needs. Online channels allow consumers a wider selection of gifts choices and
are convenient, avoiding crowds in store during the peak holiday shopping. In contrast,
Black Friday provides consumers an enjoyable shopping experience since it is usually
 Drivers of online purchase intention on Singles’ Day 3

done with close friends or family members (Swilley and Goldsmith, 2013). Therefore, the
findings of the present study will add to the existing body of knowledge in the domain of
online shopping consumer behaviour on a particular day in the context of China.
Secondly, a better understanding of such drivers will allow e-retailers to make efficient
marketing strategies to cater for consumers’ preference to boost their sales on Singles’
Day and sustain competitive advantage.
The purpose of the present study is to understand the drivers of Chinese consumers
online purchase intention on Singles’ Day so as to aid e-retailers in working out
marketing programs that can help increase sales on that day. There are several frequently
employed theories in consumer behaviour research, for instance, the technology
acceptance model (Chiu et al., 2009), the theory of reasoned action, the theory of planned
behaviour, and the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) framework. Specifically, SOR is
employed in the present study. A conceptual framework is proposed explaining either
direct or indirect relationship between four drivers, namely promotion, e-store
atmosphere, word of mouth, advertising and consumption rituals and online purchase
intention on Singles’ Day with perceived value, shopping enjoyment, impulsive buying
orientation, browsing as mediators.

2 Literature review and hypothesis development

Little research has done focusing on factors influencing consumers online purchase
intention on Singles’ Day. In the following sections, four drivers such as promotion,
e-store atmosphere, word of mouth, and advertising and consumption rituals are justified
based on the literature review including those that investigate consumers purchase
intention in the context of Black Friday or Cyber Day in the states.

2.1 Promotion
2.1.1 SOR framework
The SOR paradigm proposed by Mehrabian and Russell (1974) and grounded in
environmental psychology explains that a stimulus (S) located in physical environment
has an effect on people’s internal affective and cognitive evaluations (O i.e., organism),
which in turn results in behavioural responses (R) (Eroglu et al., 2001). This model has
been widely employed in numerous studies on consumer behaviour as a theoretical basis.
Applied into online shopping context, a stimulus can refer to the product features, price,
advertising, website layout, and music, which exhibit an effect on consumers’ approach
or avoid behaviour with emotional states serving as a mediating variable. In this study,
promotion is assumed as one of the drivers determining consumers online purchase
intention on Singles’ Day based on the SOR framework.

2.1.2 Stimulus: promotion

Promotion, a part of marketing communication activities, is defined as the special offer in
terms of price discounts, coupon distribution, gift attachment or free shipping to attract
consumers (Alvarez and Casielles, 2005). They suggest that two reactions are encouraged
by promotion, namely, an increase in consumption and purchase of a product out of
4 X. Zhao and H.L. Wan

attractiveness of promotion instead of in need. Chen et al. (1998) also claim that
promotions are frequently used in retailing to boost sales via changing consumers’
purchase decision. However, promotions are not always credible. An increasing number
of consumers start to wonder whether the price is authentically reduced especially when
there is an incredible big price reduction (Chen et al., 1998). Nonetheless, promotion is
still an important factor usually used for affective evaluation of a product and it serves as
an economic incentive to purchase a product (Honea and Dahl, 2005). Moreover, offering
promotions is still a widely employed and perceived effective way to attract consumers
both online and offline, especially during holiday seasons with higher promotion
responsiveness as reflected in greater spending (Oh and Kwon, 2009). Grewal et al.
(2003) find that online shoppers generally tend to perceive lower prices offered in online
stores than in physical malls.

2.1.3 Organism (cognitive states): perceived value

Perceived value is associated with the perceived gains deriving from a product or service
(Park and Lennon, 2009). A lot of studies show that promotion can enhance consumers’
perceived value of the deal as a result of a perceived fair price of a promoted product. In
addition to the perceived economic value, Chandon et al. (2000) summarise that the
perceived value brought by promotion in online shopping context results from utilitarian
benefits and hedonic benefits. Additionally, Chang and Wang (2011) suggest that
perceived value should be attached more attention due to its important role in predicting
purchase behaviour, especially in the context of online shopping. They find that
perceived value is positively related to consumers’ satisfaction and loyalty, which results
in consumers online purchase intention.

2.1.4 Responses: purchase intentions

Responses are the outcomes of affective states in terms of either approach or avoidance
behaviours. Approach behaviours are those positive responses such as purchase
intentions as well as repurchase intentions while avoidance behaviours are associated
with refusal of the external stimuli resulting from negative attitude. Purchase intention is
a part of consumer cognitive behaviour which is an indicator of the likelihood a consumer
intends to buy a specific product. In addition, Kim et al. (2012) claims that positive
perceived value tends to improve consumers’ willingness to purchase a product and
loyalty to a certain brand or shop. Hence, promotion affects consumers’ purchase
intention with consumers’ perceived value of the product as a mediator. Based on the
SOR framework, two hypotheses are developed as follows:
H1 Promotion has a positive influence on online consumers’ perceived value.
H2 Perceived value has a positive influence on online purchase intention.
H3 Perceived value mediates the relationship between promotion and online purchase
intention.

2.2 E-store atmosphere

Store environment is widely examined as a determinant of consumers’ impulsive buying
in in-store shopping. Tendai and Crispen (2009) claim that store environment is
 Drivers of online purchase intention on Singles’ Day 5

comprised of store display, in-store background music, scent, in-store promotions,

cleanness, store personnel as well as shop congestion. Their research shows that an
enjoyable, pleasant and attractive environment can stimulate consumers’ impulsive
buying orientation, which in turn positively affects consumers’ purchase intention.
Therefore, we also examine e-store shopping atmosphere as a predictor of consumers
Singles’ Day online shopping intention on Singles’ Day following the SOR model.

2.2.1 Stimulus: e-store atmosphere

From a marketing perspective, atmosphere has been defined as a created environment on
purpose to appeal to consumers, aiming to produce emotional effects on individuals so as
to increase the likelihood to purchase (De Farias et al., 2014). Unlike that of a physical
store, e-store atmosphere restricted to a computer screen lacking the social dimension
mainly consists of highly task-relevant (i.e., product description and picture) and less
task-relevant cues (i.e., store-visual appearance, colours, animations, and music, and
navigation) (Eroglu et al., 2001, 2003). In the present study, e-store atmospheric cues
mainly refer to two aspects, namely, e-store design and navigation, since it is assumed
that product description or picture will be the same as usual on Singles’ Day. In this,
Van der Heijden (2003) demonstrates that perceived attractiveness of e-store’s
visual appearance has positive influence on consumer’s emotional state. In a similar vein,
Cyr et al. (2006) assert that design aesthetics can explain consumers’ loyalty in mobile
commerce applications. In addition, consumers look forward to convenient shopping,
particularly during the holiday season (Seiders et al., 2000). As a result, the ease of
navigation online will contribute to consumers expected convenience not available in
shopping malls, which positively influences the consumer’s emotional state. Therefore,
e-store atmosphere is assumed to serve as a stimulus that affects consumers’ emotional
state of shopping enjoyment on Singles’ Day. Therefore,
H4 The better consumers perceived the e-store atmosphere, the greater is their
shopping enjoyment in the e-store.

2.2.2 Organism (cognitive states): shopping enjoyment

Shopping enjoyment serves as the mediating organism variable in light of Mehrabian and
Russell’s (1974) research emphasising the influence of environmental cues on emotional
states and its dominant role in reducing relevance of cognitive behaviour. Verplanken and
Sato (2011) further stress that impulsive buying orientation is produced based on a
product or the environment the product exists to arouse joy or excitement with less
information processing and cognitive reactions. It should be noted that a lot of research
have been done in terms of the influence of shopping enjoyment on impulsive-buying
orientation in physical store environment (De Farias et al., 2014). However, this impact
has not yet been proven to be significant in the context of online shopping. Nonetheless,
taking into consideration that much effort has been made to improve e-store atmosphere
during holidays, it is assumed that shopping enjoyment positively affect consumers’
impulsive buying orientation. Hence,
H5 The more the consumer enjoys the shopping experience, the higher is their
impulsive buying orientation on Singles’ Day.
6 X. Zhao and H.L. Wan

2.2.3 Response: impulsive buying orientation and purchase intention

Impulsive buying orientation is defined as a predisposition toward an instant, compelling
act of shopping, which is driven by a certain emotion state influenced by environmental
stimuli (Brown et al., 2013). Moreover, Zhang et al. (2007) suggest that a great portion of
online purchase intention is driven by impulsive buying orientation and online consumers
are more likely to be influenced to make a purchase decision oriented by impulsiveness.

H6 Impulsive purchase orientation is positively related to customer online purchase

intention.

2.3 Word of Mouth

Word of mouth is found to be one of the most powerful and highly persuasive forces in
the marketplace (Silverman, 1997). Specifically, informal or personal communication
sources are frequently taken into consideration by consumers when they make purchase
decision. Trusov et al. (2009) contend that word of mouth used as a communication
strategy is more attractive than traditional forms of communication since word of mouth
helps overcome consumer resistance with a lower cost and is delivered at a fast speed,
especially e-word of mouth on the internet. Similarly, Doh and Hwang (2009) indicate
that the function of traditional media as information sources has declined severely in
South Korea. In contrast, 80% of consumers show their preference to read the product
posting or consumer comments on the internet when they search for product information
before purchase. Hence, the power of e-word of mouth is spreading fast due to its nature
of covering a wide range of contents and anonymity. In addition, Trusov et al. (2009)
demonstrate that word of mouth referrals have a strong impact on new customer
acquisition, and new sign-ups will develop to more word of mouth referrals.
To what extent word of mouth influences individual’s decision is dependent on two
aspects – word of mouth actively sought and bond between the sender and receiver
(Bansal and Voyer, 2000). It means that if a word of mouth message is sought by a
receiver actively, it will generate a greater impact on his or her purchase decision than the
influence of a word of mouth message attained passively. Moreover, when there is a
strong tie between word of mouth message sender and receiver, the word of mouth
information is more likely to have a significant influence on receiver’s purchase decision
(Frenzen and Nakamoto, 1993). Further, Chiou and Cheng (2003) suggest that the
consumers’ response is affected by the direction of e-word of mouth. More specifically,
consumers tend to rely on those messages with the same direction. The consensus in
word of mouth shows the degree of agreement of consumers with purchased experience
in terms of the product or its quality. As a result, those words of mouth information with
higher consensus tend to be more persuasive and yield more impact on consumers’
purchase intention.
Hence, with the rapid development of the internet social media, word of mouth in
cyber world is emerging. Hennig-Thurau et al. (2004) defines that electronic word of
mouth is “any positive or negative statement made by potential, actual, or former
customers about a product or company, which is made available to a multitude of people
and institutions via the Internet”. See-To and Ho (2014) suggest that potential consumers
purchase intention are found to be influenced by the views or performance ratings
provided by those prior consumers. More specifically, if there is a large number of
 Drivers of online purchase intention on Singles’ Day 7

positive e-words of mouth about an item online, the potential consumer is more likely to
have a positive expectation about the product, which leads to his or her
purchase intention. On the contrary, if most e-words of mouth are negative, he or she will
possibly have a negative perception of the product, which reduces his or her purchase
intention.
Studies show that Chinese consumers have a strong tendency of following the
mainstream. In cognitive psychological point of view, it is called herding, which can be
explained as the alignment of individuals’ thoughts and behaviour in a group through
interaction (Raafat et al., 2009). Herd mentality is used to describe a kind of human
behaviour which is influenced by peers to adopt a herd following behaviour such as
following trends and paying much attention to word of mouth message. Xia and Guan
(2014) affirm that the purchase behaviour and recommendations of relatives and friends
have a significant influence on consumers purchase intention. The rapid widespread use
of group buying websites in China also supports the powerful impact of word of mouth
on Chinese consumers with herd mentality (Cheng et al., 2012; Liu and Sutanto, 2012).
Driven by the effect of word of mouth, the group of hesitating buyers are more easily
influenced to purchase the product with large number of existing orders and positive
reviews. Accordingly,

H7 Word of mouth of online shopping on Singles’ Day has a positive influence on

consumers’ time engaged in browsing in the e-store.

H8 Word of mouth online has a positive influence on consumers’ purchase intention.

2.4 Browsing
Floh and Madlberger (2013) suggest that exposure to in-store stimuli or a product may
result in unplanned or impulsive buying orientation. Although browsing in a store does
not necessarily predict the purchase behaviour, the increasing engagement in browsing
tends to increase the possibilities of consumers’ impulsive buying orientation. This is
further supported by Moe’s (2003) findings that people in the process of browsing in a
store tend to purchase items which are not in plan driven by impulsive buying orientation
since he or she is more receptive to environmental stimuli in browsing. Hence,

H9 The more the customer is engaged in browsing in the e-store, the more possible
he/she has impulsive buying orientation.

2.5 Advertising and Singles’ Day consumption rituals

2.5.1 Advertisement and rituals
Elliott (1999) contends that advertising is used to endow products or service with
symbolic meaning and create their brand symbolic image within consumer culture by
virtue of its ideological force. Advertisement is a representational practice of constructing
meaning through the use of signs and language aiming to appeal consumers
(Du Gay et al., 2013). Consumers tend to believe that consuming the advertised
commodities will help them fulfil the need they even do not realise before (Piller, 2001).
The ideological power of advertisement can be understood with the help of
8 X. Zhao and H.L. Wan

acknowledging the power of discourse put forth by Foucault (Hall, 2011). The discourse
of advertising helps consumers’ identity construction if the advertisement is interpreted
or encoded with some resonance with consumers themselves. In this study, Singles’ Day
as an online shopping festival is constructed in consumers’ minds with the help of
advertisement.
Ritual behaviour is pervasive in everyday life including media, religious, gift-giving,
shopping as well as business. From a marketing perspective, Rook (1985) defines ritual
as a type of expressive, symbolic activity constructed of multiple behaviours that occur in
a fixed, episodic sequence, and that tends to be repeated over time. More specifically,
ritual symbols are incorporated in advertisements to remind consumers, for example,
when to send a card or hold a celebration. Taobao Marketplace succeeds in this. For
instance, the aim for Singles’ Day shopping advertisement is to appeal to customers by
playing on the idea of singleness, which is the reality faced by millions of young people
in China. Taobao Marketplace initially post advertisement “It is too miserable to shop
alone in the mall on Singles’ Day. Exciting discounts are available in Taobao. Only for
one day!”. The former part, miserable, Singles’ Day, alone, all three words create the
sense of loneliness associated in in-store shopping while an attractive sell point,
promotion, is offered on the online store, which successfully arouse resonance of single
youths. Meanwhile, Otnes and Scott (1996) justify that advertisement campaign has an
effect on ritual changes as demonstrated by an example that advertisement of diamond
ring in Japan transfer its meaning as a gift offered from the groom’s family instead of the
widespread ritual as an engagement ring. In this regard, advertisement placed by Taobao
Marketplace has shifted the original rituals on Singles’ Day such as participation in
singles party to a new ritual recommending singles to splurge online.

2.5.2 Singles’ Day consumption rituals

Thomas and Peters (2011) state that Black Friday is becoming a celebrated consumption
ritual whose role is almost as important as that of Thanksgiving Day in the States.
Similarly, advertisement, together with the consumers’ desires to start their winter
shopping, has contributed to Singles’ Day becoming a celebrated consumption ritual
almost as important as Chinese Lunar New Year. Consumers tend to shop less when
Singles’ Day is approaching and make a list of items needed to acquire. Like those
consumers in the USA willing to line up in a long queue for several hours on Black
Friday, a large group of Chinese consumers are used to waiting for the clock ticking on
the eve and the commencement of Singles’ Day shopping at the strike of 12. Browsing
those online shopping website on Singles’ Day has become a ritual for an increasing
number of online shoppers. Hence,

H10 Advertisement and consumption rituals on Singles’ Day positively influence

consumers’ purchase intention.

H11 Advertisement and consumption rituals on Singles’ Day positively influence

consumer’ time engaged in browsing in the e-store.

To sum up, the framework for this study is as in Figure 1.

 Drivers of online purchase intention on Singles’ Day 9

Figure 1 Conceptual framework

H3

3 Methodology

3.1 Sample
The sample poll targeted consumers with online purchasing experience on Singles’ Day
in China. An online survey questionnaire is distributed via convenience and snowball
sampling. Of the 214 eligible respondents, 108 are male and 106 are female. It was found
that most of respondents are less than 34 years old. 67.3% of the respondents are with the
salary below 4,000 RMB, followed by 16.3% in the range of 4,000 RMB to 5,999 RMB,
and 10.3% in the range of 6,000 RMB to 9,999 RMB. As for occupational pattern, it was
found that 96 out of 214 respondents are students and 110 are employed.

3.2 Measures
The questionnaire comprises of seven questions to tap demographic information of
respondents in terms of age, gender, income, and education background and 32 items to
measure the constructs of the study using a five-point Likert scale ranging from strongly
disagree to strongly agree. The adapted scales were perceived value (Chandon et al.,
2000); e-store atmosphere, shopping enjoyment and browsing (Floh and Madlberger,
2013); impulsive buying intention (Floh and Madlberger, 2013); online purchase
intention (Thompson et al., 1991); and two items for advertising and consumer rituals.
The scales for promotion and word of mouth and two items for advertising and consumer
rituals were self-developed. The questionnaire was translated into Chinese, the
respondents’ native language before it was distributed online.
10 X. Zhao and H.L. Wan

3.3 Procedures
An online survey questionnaire designed using Qualtrics was employed to collect data
from respondents who had online purchasing experience on Singles’ Day. This particular
website was chosen as it allows the researcher to access real-time data and respondents to
access it any time. More importantly, it is easy to transfer the collected data into SPSS for
further analysis. The questionnaire link was sent to friends who shopped online
frequently with a request to distribute the link to their friends. The data collection process
started from July 10, 2014 and ended on July 15, 2014. The total number of responses
collected was 387, but 114 were incomplete. 59 completed surveys were abandoned since
those respondents answered ‘No’ in the first question meaning that they do not have
online shopping experience on Singles’ Day. Consequently, 214 responses were available
for data analysis.

4 Results and findings

4.1 Reliability and validity analysis

Table 1 shows that the Cronbach’s alpha value of all variables is above .7 except for
browsing which is with .520. However, Briggs and Cheek (1986) suggest that it is
common to get a lower Cronbach’s alpha value of around .5 if the scales are with fewer
than ten items. There are three items in browsing scale in the present study. In this case, it
is better to interpret the mean inter-item correlation for the items, which is recommended
to be in the range of .2 to .4. Browsing scale shows an inter-item correlation of .261
which is within the optimal range. Therefore, it is concluded that the scales in this study
are reliable. Based on the results of factor analysis, all items are retained.
Table 1 Cronbach’s alpha of variables

Variables Cronbach’s alpha No. of items

Independent Promotion .792 3
variables E-store atmosphere .773 3
Word of mouth .701 4
Advertisement and consumption rituals .767 4
Dependent Purchase intention .888 3
variable
Mediators Perceived value .823 5
Shopping enjoyment .835 3
Impulsive buying orientation .721 4
Browsing .520 3

4.2 Correlation analysis

As Table 2 indicated, the correlation table reveals that Hypothesis 1, Hypothesis 4,
Hypothesis 5, Hypothesis 6, Hypothesis 7, Hypothesis 9, Hypothesis 11 are supported as
the correlation value of each two variables are .606 (promotion and perceived value),
 Drivers of online purchase intention on Singles’ Day 11

.327 (e-store atmosphere and shopping enjoyment), .361 (shopping enjoyment and
impulsive buying orientation), .393 (impulsive buying orientation and purchase
intention), .505 (word of mouth and browsing), .449 (browsing and impulsive buying
orientation), .511 (advertising and browsing).
Table 2 Correlations

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Promotion 1
Perceived value .606 1
E-store .409 .435 1
atmosphere
Shopping .493 .518 .327 1
enjoyment
Impulsive .401 .308 .258 .361 1
buying
orientation
Word of mouth .451 .493 .319 .460 .477 1
Browsing .389 .366 .312 .422 .449 .505 1
Advertising and .481 .501 .386 .600 .494 .533 .511 1
consumption
rituals
Purchase .531 .616 .315 .636 .393 .532 .386 .651
intention

Table 3 Coefficients

Collinearity statistics
Model Beta t Sig.
Tolerance VIF
1 (constant) –.765 .445
Promotion .119 1.913 .057 .551 1.815
Perceived value .307 4.830 .000 .525 1.903
E-store atmosphere –.062 –1.167 .244 .753 1.328
Impulsive buying orientation .011 .192 .848 .671 1.490
Word of mouth .136 2.276 .024 .592 1.689
Advertising and consumption rituals .387 6.268 .000 .558 1.793
R-square .561

4.3 Multiple regression

From Table 3, it is concluded that perceived value, word of mouth, and advertisement
and consumption rituals make unique contribution to the prediction of purchase intention.
Advertisement and consumption rituals make the strongest unique contribution (.387) to
explaining the online purchase intention as compared to perceived value (.307) and word
of mouth (.136). Thus, Hypothesis 2 which states that perceived value is positively
related to purchase intention is supported. Similarly, Hypothesis 8 in which positive word
of mouth online has a positive influence on consumers’ purchase intention is supported.
12 X. Zhao and H.L. Wan

Also, Hypothesis 10 that states that advertisement and consumption rituals on Singles’
Day positively influence consumers’ purchase intention is supported. R2 of .561 indicates
that the proposed model explain 56.1% of the variance in online purchase intention on
Singles’ Day.

4.4 Mediation
Based on the results generated from PROCESS (Table 4), the regression of promotion on
online purchase intention, ignoring the mediator, was significant, b = .57, t (212) = 9.12,
p < .001. Secondly, the regression of promotion on the mediator, perceived value, is also
significant, b = .53, t (212) = 11.09, p < .001. The next mediation process shows that the
mediator (perceived value), controlling for promotion, is significant, b = .57,
t (211) = 7.04, p = .0000. The last step analysis reveals that, after controlling for the
mediator (perceived value), promotion is also significant predictor of online purchase
intention, b = .27, t (211) = 3.78, p = .0002, but it shows a reduction in effect. It is
concluded that perceived value partially mediates the relationship between promotion and
online purchase intention on the Singles’ Day. Therefore, Hypothesis 3 that perceived
value mediates the relationship between promotion and online purchase intention is
supported.
Table 4 Mediator process analysis

R2 Beta t df p
Promotion .3673 .5306 11.0946 212 .0000
Outcome: perceived value
Perceived value .4186 .5660 7.0415 211 .0000
Promotion .2659 3.7783 211 .0002
Outcome: purchase intention
Promotion .2820 .5663 9.1240 212 .0000
Outcome: purchase intention

5 Discussion

5.1 Promotion
The results of the study confirm that promotion is positively related to consumers online
purchase intention with perceived value serving as a mediator, which coincides with
findings. That is exactly the strategy most e-stores employ on Singles’ Day. Consumers
generally have positive perceptions of product value if they are provided with promotion
due to the increasing perceived savings and positive perceptions of deal value. Moreover,
perceived value serves as a mediator which has a strong correlation with purchase
intention. Specifically, consumers pursue either utilitarian benefits (monetary savings) or
hedonic benefits (entertainment from promotion advertisement) (Chandon et al., 2000).
Their perceived value directly affects their purchase intention. However, promotion does
not have a significant strong direct influence on purchase intention based on the results.
This may be caused by a phenomenon that consumers nowadays have a more cautious
 Drivers of online purchase intention on Singles’ Day 13

attitude towards the authenticity of retailers’ promotion strategies. Their perceived value
of promotion is decreasing since a few retailers are reported to raise the price of
promoted products first then discount them on Singles’ Day. In this, a group of
consumers sensitive to the price of product are less encouraged by heavy promotions on
Singles’ Day since they find it is not real price discounts in fact. In addition, some free
gifts provided by e-retailers are found to be of poor quality without utility.
Nonetheless, promotion is still used as an important marketing tool for e-retailers by
virtue of influencing consumers’ purchase intention. It is suggested that e-retailers should
use effective and authentic promotions to attract new consumers. The higher the
perceived value of the products on sales is, the more easily the consumers are stimulated
to make an initial purchase. Furthermore, promotions like coupon distribution are
effective in offering those loyal consumers with a reward for their purchase. In addition,
if a time limited promotion is provided on Singles’ Day, it will stimulate consumers’
urgent need to purchase.

5.2 E-store atmosphere

E-store atmosphere is investigated as a driver of online purchase intention on Singles’
Day by virtue of sequential impacts of e-store atmosphere on consumers shopping
enjoyment, enjoyment on impulsive buying orientation, and impulsive buying orientation
on purchase intention. A pleasant e-store design and clear navigation brings consumers
shopping enjoyment on Singles’ Day, where they are more likely to be emotionally
attracted, which confirms the findings of Cyr et al. (2006). Furthermore, shopping
enjoyment stimulates consumers to try to maintain their positive mood, and thus, lead to a
higher impulsive buying orientation because they may have a tendency to obtain
immediate gratification from the purchasing act. Therefore, consumers sometimes may
purchase some products not on their shopping list since they are emotionally attracted by
the e-store atmosphere on Singles’ Day.
In this regard, attention should be paid to the atmospheric cues of e-store regarding
enjoyable e-store design and optimal navigability specifically on Singles’ Day.
Specifically, providing image interactivity is a better way to create a pleasant shopping
environment such as the presence of graphical information and animation instead of
textual information alone. Moreover, it is advisable to offer a clear e-store navigation
operation so that consumers are immersed into an efficient shopping environment since
some products on Singles’ Day are time limited sales.

5.3 Word of mouth

Word of mouth is a driver which has direct impact on consumers online purchase
intention and exhibits an indirect influence on it via sequential effect on browsing,
browsing on impulsive buying orientation, and impulsive buying orientation on purchase
intention. The direct influence mainly results from consumers’ reliance on others
recommendations, such as e-word of mouth like the comments left by those consumers
having purchase experience. This result confirms the findings of See-To and Ho (2014)
and Hsiao et al. (2010). The word of mouth information is helpful to reduce the
uncertainty and worries of those hesitating consumers to make a purchase decision. It is
worth mentioning that the influence of word of mouth will be strengthened if the word of
14 X. Zhao and H.L. Wan

mouth message is given by those people with closer relationship with the message
receiver (Bansal and Voyer, 2000; Frenzen and Nakamoto, 1993). For instance, Chinese
consumers’ decision on buying imported infant formula and brand chosen heavily rely on
recommendations of relatives (Xia and Guan, 2014). Besides, a number of Chinese
consumers start to know Singles’ Day online shopping craze from surroundings talk
about it. Thus, they are encouraged to browse online shopping malls on Singles’ Day
with a curious mind. The more the consumer is engaged in browsing in the e-store, the
more possible he or she has impulsive buying orientation due to the influence of exciting
environmental stimuli in e-store on Singles’ Day, thus leading to purchase intention.
Moreover, one of the Chinese consumers’ characteristics, herd mentality, contributes to
the fact that consumers are used to be affected by word of mouth message especially in
making a purchase decision.
In this, e-retailers should encourage those consumers who have purchase experiences
in their store to leave a user experience or post a picture about the purchased products.
And, there is a rating system for consumers to justify the usefulness of the e-word of
mouth message. It is possible to offer rewards like coupons to those providing high rating
recommendations to others. On one hand, old consumers are stimulated to share purchase
message to potential consumers. On the other hand, e-word of mouth message helps
potential consumers to make a purchase decision. E-retailers may also provide some
rewards for those consumers who have succeeded in recommending a product to their
friends to purchase. In this, it is reasonable to set a specific number.

5.4 Advertising and consumption rituals

Likewise, advertising and consumption rituals have direct and indirect impacts on online
purchase intention on Singles’ Day. More specifically, the direct impact of advertising
and consumption rituals on purchase intention is the strongest among all drivers, which
complies with the findings of Piller (2001). Advertisements are used to construct an
identification between consumers who are single and Singles’ Day. Moreover, a variety
of advertisements theming about Singles’ Day online shopping are not only spread along
places with higher passenger flow volume such as busy streets, bus station, and subways,
but also displayed on diverse TV channels, and popular internet social platforms in China
including microblog, renren, and wechat when Singles’ Day is approaching. Those
ubiquitous advertisements always remind consumers of the timing to splurge on
themselves on this specific festival. In the course of time, Singles’ Day has been
successfully discoursed as a consumption day by the advertisements motivating
consumers online purchase intention. Browsing in the online shopping mall is another
ritual shaped on this specific day influenced by the advertisement discourse. Although
some consumers do not have a shopping list to purchase on that day, they may feel it
necessary to browse online on Singles’ Day and it is becoming a habit for a number of
consumers. Purchase intention is therefore led by impulsive buying orientation
encouraged by engaging in browsing for a longer time.
Considering the strongest influence in predicting online purchase intention generated
by advertisement and consumption rituals, consistent attention is suggested to focus on
this. For online shopping channels like Taobao Marketplace, T-Mall, and Jiongdong.com,
it is recommended that they should make greater effort in designing creative Singles’ Day
outdoor advertisements grabbing consumers’ attention. Moreover, they can post the top
ten or 20 popular e-stores in different categories like apparel, electronics, and food with
 Drivers of online purchase intention on Singles’ Day 15

higher real-time sales on Singles’ Day on their platform homepage. The real time ratings
will navigate those shoppers without purchasing plan to browse around the popular
stores, thus increasing the possibility of purchase resulting from impulsive buying
orientation. For e-stores on different platforms, they can initially send their advertisement
designed specifically for Singles’ Day to those consumers having purchasing experiences
in their store in advance. Those initial launched e-stores also can invest on advertising
their stores on the homepage of the online shopping platform to increase the click rate
when Singles’ Day is approaching.

5.5 Mediation effects

Perceived value is found to partially mediate the relationship between promotion and
online purchase intention on Singles’ Day. The direct impact of promotion on purchase
intention is found to be less than the impact generated by perceived value on purchase
intention as a mediator. Once being exposed to a promotion campaign, consumers would
have a judgement about the value in their perceptions (Park and Lennon, 2009). The more
they perceived the value about the promoted products, the more likelihood they would
make a purchase. Implications of this finding propose the importance of consumers’
perceived value about the products on sales in predicting their purchase intention.
E-retailers should make greater efforts to increase consumers’ perceived value by
providing them with authentic promotion instead of sales discounts after increasing
product price.

6 Conclusions

This paper theoretically has expanded research on drivers of consumers online purchase
intention on Singles’ Day in China. Previous studies on this have been mainly limited to
investigation of consumers purchase intention in a general context. The present paper
specifically put forward a new research focus, establishes a conceptual framework to
discuss the motives of consumers online purchase intention on Singles’ Day. Overall, it
was concluded that promotion, e-store atmosphere, word of mouth, advertising and
consumption rituals have a positive impact on Chinese consumers online purchase
intention on Singles’ Day. The correlation between them is found to be positive ranging
from medium to high. The most influential driver is advertising and consumption rituals.
The results of advertising and consumption rituals reveal that Chinese consumers are
motivated by various advertisement theming Singles’ Day to purchase online. Online
shopping on Singles’ Day has become a consumption ritual of an increasing number of
Chinese consumers.
Regardless of how Singles’ Day originated, there is no misunderstanding on the
impact of this single day in terms of online sales. Singles’ Day has five years history as
an online shopping festival witnessing the rapid development of e-commerce in China.
E-retailers prepare for this big day two or three months in advance in terms of stocking
up commodities for 24-hours of non-stop supply on that day, advertising, providing
commodities, and redesigning the store specifically for 11.11. Singles’ Day sales in 2013
on Taobao Marketplace were at record highs, with $5.75 billion spent by consumers
online on this one day alone. Hence, it is suggested that e-retailers make authentic
16 X. Zhao and H.L. Wan

promotion campaigns so that consumers’ perceived value, a strong factor leading to

consumers online purchase intention, would be increased. In addition, it is advised that
greater effort should be made in terms of designing creative advertisement theming about
Singles’ Day, not only for stimulating consumers’ purchase intention directly, but also
evoke their impulsive buying orientation resulting from being engaged in browsing for a
long time.
This paper provides some new insights into drivers of consumers online purchase
intention, concentrating specifically on Singles’ Day. The conceptual framework
proposed in this study adds theoretical contribution to the existing literature lacking of
studies regarding the factors motivating consumers online purchase intention on a
particular day, especially in China context. Although the drivers concluded in this study
may not cover all the factors influencing consumers online purchase intention on Singles’
Day, they still throw some light on the future study on this topic. However, the research
findings should be viewed in the light of some limitations.
To begin with, the study may be not able to take all possible drivers motivating
Chinese consumers online purchase intention into consideration due to time constraints.
Therefore, future study can consider other drivers incorporating some mediators or
moderators. Comparative studies on online shopping in a single day with other countries
that promote such practices are encouraged especially if it impacts the economy
considerably. Secondly, the responses from the sample in the present study are recorded
through an online questionnaire, distributed through convenience and snowball sampling.
Future study may employ more interactive techniques with respondents such as interview
or focus groups as a complementary method to understand their viewpoints in-depth.

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 Drivers of online purchase intention on Singles’ Day 19

Appendix A

Table of items used to measure study constructs

Construct Item Reference
Promotion Discounts on products on Singles’ Day online is attractive
E-coupon distribution on Singles’ Day online is exciting
Gift giving on Singles’ Day online is attractive
Perceived I feel that I can get a good deal Chandon et
value I can afford a better than-usual product al. (2000)

I feel like I am a smart shopper

The product is considered to be a good buy
The product appears to be a bargain
E-store The website design is visually pleasing and attractive Floh and
atmosphere The colours that are used on the site are attractive Madlberger
(2013)
The navigation on the shopping website is very clear and easy
Shopping Shopping online on Singles’ Day is entertaining for me Floh and
enjoyment Shopping online on Singles’ Day makes me excited Madlberger
(2013)
Shopping online on Singles’ Day is one of my favourite activities
Impulsive I may buy things without much consideration Floh and
buying I simply buy it when I feel the product really interests me Madlberger
orientation (2013)
I may buy things that I have not intended to purchase
I may buy things that are not on my shopping list
Word of Word of mouth provides much valuable information
mouth Word of mouth helps me to make a purchase decision
I am encouraged to browse online shopping websites on Singles’
Day by friends’ recommendations
Word of mouth is reliable
Browsing I spend much time just looking around on the shopping websites Floh and
I am primarily just looking around on the shopping websites Madlberger
(2013)
I follow the advertisement links to browse
Advertising I am driven by the buying spree created by real time reporting in
and terms of sales statistics on online shopping websites on Singles’ Day
consumption I am attracted by the various types of online shopping advertisement
rituals with the theme about Singles’ Day
Online shopping on Singles’ Day has become a habit for me
Doing online shopping on Singles’ Day is a part of my life
Online I will do online shopping on Singles’ Day on a regular basis in the
purchase future
intention I will recommended others to do online shopping on Singles’ Day
I will purchase online in the coming Singles’ Day
20 X. Zhao and H.L. Wan

Appendix B

Results of hypothesis testing

No. Hypothesis Result
1 Promotion has a positive relationship with online consumers’ perceived Supported
value
2 Perceived value has a positive influence on online purchase intention. Supported
3 Perceived value mediates the relationship between promotion and online Supported
purchase intention
4 The better consumers perceived the e-store atmosphere, the greater is their Supported
shopping enjoyment in the e-store
5 The more the consumer enjoy the shopping experience, the higher is their Supported
impulsive buying orientation on Singles’ Day
6 Impulsive purchase orientation has a positive impact on customer online Not supported
purchase intention
7 Word of mouth of online shopping on Singles’ Day is positively related to Supported
consumers’ time engaged in browsing in the e-store
8 Word of mouth online has a positive influence on consumers’ online Supported
purchase intention
9 The more the consumer is engaged in browsing in the e-store, the more Supported
possible he/she has impulsive buying orientation
10 Advertisement and consumption rituals on Singles’ Day positively Supported
influence consumers’ purchase intention
11 Advertisement and consumption rituals on Singles’ Day positively Supported
influence consumers’ time engaged in browsing in the e-store