A Theoretical Perspective of Personality Traits as Drivers of Online Grocery Shopping and Consumer Behaviour

Online shopping continues to attract huge research interest as it evolves, and this is especially so in this era of the fourth industrial revolution. Consumers are still sceptical about this way of shopping which is also different from the traditional customer experience in terms of information search, product presentation and customer service. Many researchers concur that consumer decisions and motivations can be influenced by their personality traits to purchase groceries online. The aim of this article is to provide a systematic literature review on the influence of personality traits on online grocery shopping. The five-factor model of personality (FFM) was used to explore personality traits as drivers of online grocery shopping from a theoretical perspective. The results of the study show a significant link between convenience shoppers and introverts, whereas variety-seeking is strongly linked to people that score high on openness due to their willingness to explore, and store-oriented shoppers can be similarly linked to people that score high on extraversion and conscientiousness. These are important drivers of online grocery shopping as they determine the type of online grocery shoppers that can exist. Furthermore, conscientiousness and neuroticism influence consumers’ perceptions of online grocery shopping due to the lack of trust and the perceived risk involved in online grocery shopping. Some people with these traits are more risk averse and stress about everything and therefore they are most likely not to purchase groceries online. These results will add value to retailers to understand their online grocery shoppers on a deeper level and to aid in personalising their products, new product launches and services to the right target market.