Chinese Consumer Perceived Risk and Risk Relievers in E-shopping for Clothing

Online perceived risk is an important issue in e-commerce. As China has a large Internet shopper population and online consumer spending continues to increase, better understanding Chinese online shoppers’ perceived risk and risk reduction strategies becomes particularly relevant. However, research in the Chinese context is limited. Given this reality, the purpose of this study is to (1) identify and rank Chinese consumer online perceived risk; (2) investigate consumer preferences for methods of reducing risk; and (3) present a cluster analysis of e-shoppers based on their perceived risk score. Managerially, the study intends to provide e-marketers and e-retailers with an overview of risk as perceived by Chinese online shoppers and their risk reduction strategies. It also aims to demonstrate for managers the impact of this awareness on their competitiveness by illustrating how consumer types are related to different perceived risk dimensions and risk reliever strategies on the Internet. Some results from this study are consistent with previous studies, but it is interesting to note that certain findings are different. These differences might be explained by the specificity of the Chinese Internet shopping environment and Chinese culture. Cluster analysis regrouped the Chinese e-shoppers into five groups based on their perceived risk.