The effect of online Turkish shoppers' perceptions on purchase intention in fashion industry

Even though retail stayed almost the same in the last 20 years, the effect of digital tools and applications substantially altered how businesses operate and how consumers shop. When the pandemic increased the pace consumers adapted to changes, retail industry was already battling with the challenge to digitalize. This study is based on the adoption theories including the theory of reasoned action and the technology acceptance model to investigate the interrelationships between perceived website design, perceived privacy, perceived reliability, perceived customer service by the Turkish online shoppers and their effects on the digital purchase intention in the fashion industry. Quantitative techniques were used in this study. 470 respondents replied to the survey in Turkey, out of which 425 respondents (90.4%) stated that they shopped online from the fashion industry. Data analysis and results were discussed using the Structural Equation Modeling. Empirical findings state that the perceived website design by the Turkish online shoppers has a positive impact on perceived customer service, perceived reliability, perceived privacy, and online purchase intention. Perceived privacy is related positively to perceived customer service and digital purchase intention. Perceived reliability has a positive impact on perceived customer service, and online purchase intention. Consequently, the positive effect of perception of customer service by Turkish online customers on digital purchase intention in the fashion industry is rejected unlike to other studies in this area. Keywords: Online Shopping, Adoption Theories, Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Turkish Online Shoppers, Purchase Intention