FACTORS AFFECTING FTU STUDENTS' ONLINE SHOPPING BEHAVIOR

Nguyễn Thị Ngọc - 1717710133

Phạm Thị Thu Hoài - 1717710083
Nguyễn Thị Thùy Dương - 1717710042
Bùi Phương Anh - 1717710002
Vũ Thị Ngân Anh - 1717710027
Nguyễn Thị PhươngThảo - 1717710167
Đặng Phương Thảo - 1717710163

Foreign Trade University

December 2019
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Table of Contents
I. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 4
1. Rationale .................................................................................................................................................... 4

2. Significance.................................................................................................................................................. 4
3. Context of the study ..................................................................................................................................... 5
4. Aim, Object ................................................................................................................................................. 5
4.1. Research objective .............................................................................................................................. 5
4.2 Research aim ....................................................................................................................................... 5

II. Literature review ..................................................................................................................................... 6

III. Research methodology........................................................................................................................... 10

1. Research approach ...................................................................................................................................... 10

2. Questionnaire design ................................................................................................................................... 11

3. Sampling and data collection ....................................................................................................................... 13

IV. Data analysis and Findings ..................................................................................................................... 13

1. Description of sample and analysis of feedback ............................................................................................ 13
1.1 Description of sample ........................................................................................................................ 14
1.2. Correctness of impact factors ................................................................................................................ 14

2. Findings ....................................................................................................................................................... 20

V. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 23

1. Limitation .................................................................................................................................................... 23
2. Suggestion for practice ................................................................................................................................ 23
3. Implications for further research .................................................................................................................. 24

VI. References ...................................................................................................................................................... 27

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I.1.

Abstract

Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce (E-commerce) which allows consumers to

directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser (Wikipedia

contributors, 2019). In the past 10 years, E-commerce has grown to be integrated deeply in the

world economy. Vietnam, a Southeast Asian country, has had its own benefits from enterprises

which apply online shopping as a form of E-commerce in their business. This research reviews

factors that affect online shopping behavior of students at Foreign Trade University (FTU), one

of the most prestigious universities in Vietnam. The text focuses on determining key factors that

either encourage or prevent students’ online purchases. We will look at how FTU students

interact with certain types of information during their decision-making process by conducting a

survey with questions designed to capture the main concerns of respondents. Based on

quantitative method, the survey was answered by 30 students who were randomly selected from

different majors of the mentioned university as sample for the study. Results indicate that prices,

personal information security, and customers’ feedback are closely related to intentions to make

purchases of FTU students. It is hoped that our research is useful for online retailers and

marketers who are expecting to successfully engage in and interact with FTU’s market.

Keywords: consumer behavior, FTU students, shopping online, key factors, E-

commerce
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I. Introduction

1. Rationale

Only a few studies have been conducted to help achieve a better understanding

of consumer behavior when it comes to shopping online among Foreign Trade

University students. However, results greatly vary as there are numerous factors that

can affect it. As a consequence, one is often overwhelmed by the variety of factors

mentioned in previous researches. In order to effectively appeal to the specific

preferences of this customer group, determining the most important factors is

extremely necessary. Knowing which are the key factors and understand how to use

them to influence customer behavior would benefit the business itself remarkably. It

is suggested that our research paper motivates marketers and retailers to approach to

developing new marketing strategies which are more applicable to FTU market. On

the other hand, studying the field also gives insights into psychology, sociology,

social anthropology, anthropology, ethnography, marketing and economics,

especially behavioral economics. The behavior of the group of students being studied

in the said research reflects a unique environment such as Foreign Trade University

and the difference in the psychology of this group through its web-based shopping

habits.

2. Significance

Customers' satisfaction evaluation might be different in various contexts even

though they are repeatedly purchasing the same products. This study is significant

because it helps salespeople determine and clarify what is essential for increasing
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sales and revenue, especially on the market of Foreign Trade University (FTU) –

where customers have relatively large and diverse online shopping demands.

3. Context of the study

In the last 10 years, Foreign Trade University has had the rapid growth of

Internet users, which provides a bright prospect for E-marketers. With the quantity of

over 10.000 students and the steadily increasing percentage of individuals accessing

the Internet, FTU is one of the top lucrative markets that the E-commerce market can

be rapidly developed. Marketplace group such as “FTU’s key - Version 3”, “FTU

Market”, which is a really busy market, is a typical shopping online page for FTU

students. At present, these pages have had more than 3660 members with 100+

various goods and products per day. The entrances of the page have been remarkably

increasing with 200+ visits/posts. The upper results show that the demand for online

shopping of FTU students is so huge and E-marketers should dig deeper into this

market. This paper studies and focuses on factors affecting the online shopping

behavior of FTU students who are studying and working there.

4. Aim, Object

4.1. Research objective

This research paper is to explore factors affecting FTU students' online

shopping behavior - where has relatively large and diverse online shopping demand.

4.2 Research aim

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· Describe and analyze the buying online trend of FTU’s students. By

choosing FTU students from freshman to senior as the target sample This study

utilized the survey method of research to capture the data as well as describe the

phenomena on hand.

· Identify what factors are the most important directing to their buying online

decision. They will be clarified after analyzing the data.

· Identify obstacles that prevent online shopping from development. These

obstacles are based on the inconvenience of online shopping reflected by students

who do the survey.

II. Literature review

A great number of studies have been conducted to help deeply understand the

motives for customers’ online shopping behavior and ascertain factors which

influence it. Regarding this topic, American Marketing Association has defined

consumer behavior as “the interaction between the stimuli of the environment and the

perception of people through which people change their lives.” As seen in Hashim

Shahzad’s research study (2015), online shopping behavior is identified as “a kind of

individual’s overall perception and evaluation for product or service during online

shopping which could result in bad or good way.” It is commonly believed that some

of the factors such as financial risk, product performance risk, delivery risk, trust and

security, and website design have the most significant impact on consumers’ online

shopping behavior (Shazad, 2015). Shazad suggested that the belief is only partly

true as his study finds that financial risk and delivery risk have little influence on the

matter. Meanwhile, Møller-Hansen (2013) approached Internet-based customers’

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behavior by focusing on variables that impact online consumer purchase intention

and online consumer loyalty. In regard to consumer purchase intention, the list of

variables includes online trust, previous online purchase experience, and social media

interaction. On the other hand, variables such as online shopping enjoyment and

online satisfaction are reflected by online consumer loyalty. The variation of factors

continues as Shin and his co-authors (2013) suggested that site quality be considered

carefully. Specifically, site quality can be conceptualized as a composite of six

dimensions of shopping convenience, site design, information usefulness, transaction

security, payment system, and customer communication.

There has been a wide range of researches on this topic all over the world. It

depends on cultures as well as traditions in each region that people find out different

results with regard to factors affecting students’ online shopping behaviors. After

searching for many study reports about this topic, there are some differences between

the two main groups: developing countries and developed countries.

In several developing countries where purchasing through the Internet is still at

its infancy, researchers also complete the study with many impressive findings.

Besides the issue of trust, customers tend to care more about the price, risks, and

security. Because with the limited money in their pocket, they must consider getting

a product with as many benefits as they can like: low price, quality, fewer risks, its

reputation. Especially in Vietnam, the perception of Financial Risks, Product risks,

Convenience risks, Risks of non-delivery risks, and the time risks have a strong

negative impact on the buyer's attitude. Or in Malaysia, Mohammed Shamsul

Chowdhury along with Nadiah Ahmad (2012) analyzed that “Integrity and trust
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factors indicate the existence of significant influence towards consumer participation

while the ability and benevolence factors are not significant”. However,

simultaneously service quality and price have a great impact on the intention of

online purchases. Actually, trust is still a crucial factor influencing student’s

decisions while shopping online.

Meanwhile, in developed countries, online shopping has generally been a

familiar form of shopping, especially when they have built an extremely extensive

and diverse e-commerce system. E-commerce websites are organized in an organized

manner and own an advanced data management system. Although the market, the

tastes or the approach to customers in different countries. For example, when

analyzing these among Norwegian business students, Tor Ragnar Moller-Hansen

(2013) identified that “Previous purchase experience, online trust and social media

interaction with friends and family were all found to have positive impacts on online

consumer purchase intention”. Since then other factors such as customer service,

revenue, ... increased steadily.

There is a factor that seems to be familiar between 2 groups of countries: trust.

It is easy to understand, trust is important not only in shopping online but also in

shopping offline. And the belief bases on the customer’s experience, feedbacks,

shop’s reputation.

In the world, there have been many researches on the topic of online shopping

with the purpose of pointing out the factors affecting consumer behavior. These
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factors can be classified into 5 main groups: elements from buyers, sellers, products,

websites, and services.

In terms of sellers, a majority of research indicates that trust-building,

responsibility, and attitude of sellers are the most influential factors in purchasing

behavior. In terms of buyers, they have different personalities that can be classified

into two main orientations of utilitarian and hedonic. Consumers who are utilitarian

have goal-oriented shopping behaviors. They look for task-oriented, efficient,

rational, deliberate online shopping rather than an entertaining experience

(Wolfinbarger& Gilly, 2001).

In general, the buying psychology of most consumers is inclined to the

lowest prices, especially in developing countries, where income is still low.

Consumers in developed countries pay more attention to brands and previous Internet

purchase experience. Meanwhile, lower prices and lower shipping costs are on

buyers' psychology in developing countries (Tor Ragnar Møller-Hansen).

Trustworthiness, perceived ease of use, social media interaction are possibly

what motivate the respondents to buy via an online website.

In terms of services, financial risks and delivery risks are the main issues

affecting purchasing behavior. Financial risks involved when conducting financial

transactions through the Internet. There are also other concerns in the distribution of

goods such as shipping costs, slow delivery, (Forsythe &ctg, 2006). Usually, when

shopping online, a lot of customers are new customers so the trust level of both

buyers and sellers is not high, so to avoid risks during delivery, businesses often

require customers to pay in advance or pay part of the bill.

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III. Research methodology

1. Research approach

The main duty of this section is to analyze the correctness of elements above in

detail so that we can find out to which extent each of them affects FTU students’

shopping online behaviors. To draw an exact conclusion, we base on the reply and

suitable application of literature.

This study is aiming to answer the two following questions

● Which factors directly affect FTU consumers’ decision - making process

when shopping online? Which is the most important?

● What should online stores do to increase the number of students shopping

online?

Regarding research, different scholars have various opinions when defining

this term. In this chapter, generally we can interpret that “research is a pursuit of trust

with the help of study, observation, comparison, and experiment; the search for

knowledge through an objective and systematic method of finding solutions to a

problem” (Kothari, 2006). Hence, the main mission when doing research is to pursue

the answers to research questions.

The first thing we have to do for design is to select the appropriate research

method which can be understood as the strategies, processes or techniques utilized in

the collection of data or evidence for analysis in order to uncover new information or

create a better understanding of a topic (University of Newcastle Library guides,

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2019). There are three types of research approach including quantitative research

method, qualitative research method, and mixed-method.

According to the Research Design of John W. Creswell, quantitative research is

an approach for testing objective theories by examining the relationship among

variables. The variables can be measured, typically on instruments so that numbered

data can be analyzed using statistical procedures. The final written report includes an

introduction, literature and theory, methods, results, and discussion. On the other

hand, qualitative research is an approach for exploring and understanding the

meaning of individuals or groups ascribe to a social or human problem. The process

has emerging questions and procedures, collected data, data analysis, and researcher

making interpretations of the meaning of the data. And the last one, mixed-method

research, is an approach to inquiry consisting of collecting both quantitative and

qualitative data, integrating two forms of data, and using distinct designs. “The core

assumption of this form of inquiry is that the combination of qualitative and

quantitative approaches provides a more complete understanding of a research

problem than either approach alone”.

In this thesis, we construct the study by using only a quantitative method. We

create a survey consisting of multiple-choice, yes/no and even open-ended questions

for the purpose of getting more detailed and various information from respondents. It

is really helpful because we want to collect precise numerical data to have findings in

a scientific and logical way.

2. Questionnaire design
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The objective of this paper is to certify the validity of influencing factors for

the online shopping behavior of FTU’s students. Hence, we have chosen four main

factors and several sub-factors to design the questions. The quantitative survey

method was conducted by distributing questionnaires to undergraduate students at

Foreign Trade University. The questionnaire includes four aspects, which are the

beginning section, the background section, the screening section, and the main body.

The purpose of the beginning section is leading respondents to realize the

objective of this survey and making them understand their interests when taking part

in this investigation. This section presented the introduction, explanatory notes of

this survey.

In the background section, the information questions are generally listed to

gather background information of participants, for example, their ages, their sexes,

and so on. These questions make sure the major groups of online shopping customers

in the FTU market.

The aim of the screening section is to filter the targeted specific respondents

and to reject non-target subjects. However, this action does not need implementing in

this questionnaire because the respondents are already targeted before collection. The

target groups that we chose are FTU’s students from the first to the fourth year

studentsand having online shopping experiences in order to define the region of

influencing factors.

The last section is the main body, which is the core part of the questionnaire.

The questions in this part are created on the foundation of four factors, which are
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income, feedback from repeat customers, reliability of the shop and customer

services. Moreover, there are questions for four negative elements including the risk

of personal information of customers hacked, fake quality, delaying transportation,

high delivery fee, and bad customer service. List of the questions is created under the

way of the prompts such as yes/no question, optional questions, level questions and

short answers for respondents to fully exploit their online shopping experience.

3. Sampling and data collection

The sampling approach that the questionnaire used is mainly focusing on

convenience sampling but slightly related to homogeneous sampling as well

(Saunders et al. 2012). The scope of this paper is the Foreign Trade University.

Therefore, in this study, our target audience will be all students who are studying at

this school. They will be selected at random, based on a number of characteristics

such as gender, the school year for analysis. In particular, all the survey samples are

conducted publicly and online through social networking tools. We created a survey

and sent the link to friends and acquaintances attending the same school. In addition,

we also shared links on social networks like Facebook in order to approach more

students. We collected 30 qualified questionnaires. In order to reach more students in

different faculties, we created questionnaires in Vietnamese instead of English. The

time period for data collection was 7 days started from the 15th of November to 22th

in the same month.

IV. Data analysis and Findings

1. Description of sample and analysis of feedback

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1.1 Description of sample

There are 30 people receiving our online survey and the respondent rate

was 100%. It means that 30 people all did the survey. The survey was taken from

Foreign Trade University with 73.3% female and 26.7% male. Coincidentally, this

rate is almost similar to the student rate of our school. Foreign Trade University has a

sex ratio of females more than that of males. Only 10 questions have been set and the

first question is aiming to distinguish the background of respondents in order to set

up a comprehensive fundamental for the analysis of influencing factors.

According to figure 1, through analyzing the pie chart which is the result of the

second question with the purpose of collecting samples’ background, we can draw a

conclusion that there is no big difference in the number of students from different

school years taking part in this survey.

Figure 1: the ratio of students in different school year

1.2. Correctness of impact factors

From the result of the evaluation that respondents use for online purchasing, we

have seen that all of them have the experience of online shopping. However, a
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significant impact on shopping online decision depends on the income of each of

them. There is a question surveying their incomes and their items that they buy with

such the income via shopping online.

We divide into 3 income levels: 0-1 million (level one), 1-5 million (level two),

and more than five million (level three). Level one is presented for respondents with

low and negligible income. Level two is for a decent income, which allows

customers to meet some personal shopping demands. The last level is a high income,

expressing financial autonomy, and customers (as students) do not need the support

of family. With 0-1 million levels, the majority are freshmen and sophomores. In

nearly 6 months, about 70% of them sometimes buy, 20% rarely, and the rest are

never. Products which they often buy are cosmetics, clothing. At the level of 1-5

million, 80% of the respondents are 3rd and final year students, often buy online in

the last 6 months. Products that are commonly purchased are cosmetics, clothing, and

electronics. 100% of juniors and seniors have high income with more than five

million per month. This object often buys goods online, products that often are

bought are electronics and personal stuff.

The income of customers is the factor that affects items, and how often they are

purchased. The more income is, the more diverse items bought are. The more income

is, the more frequency of buying via online shopping is.

Apart from the income factor, channels for shopping online is a considerable

sub-factor which impacts the purchasing decision of customers.

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Figure 2. The ratio of the particularity of channels for shopping online

Draw a conclusion for figure 2, online shopping websites such as Shopee,

Lazada, Tiki and so on are the most popular channels with 73.3% of the votes, which

provide more diverse items, mainly cosmetics, clothes, and personal items, accounted

for 65.3%. The next one is social networks like Facebook, Instagram, etc. with 53%

of the choices. Goods bought via these channels are usually food and clothes. The

last one is on the official website of the product, which accounts for 30%. Online

sellers should consider online shopping websites and use them as the main market

nowadays.

We also design a table of factors that are believed to have a direct influence on

students’ decision-making processes. There are seven main factors including the

product description, price, review, and feedback from other consumers, products’

brands, shipping fees, promotional programs, and customer service.

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Basing on figure 3, we can easily see that price (60%) and feedback from other

customers (66.7%) are concerned the most by students when they purchase goods

through the Internet. Since the respondents are college students whose average

income is approximately 2.5 million VND per month, they consider a lot about price.

Lower prices will increase shoppers’ satisfaction because they can obtain

convenience, time - saving as well as money-saving at the same time. This strongly

pushes their intention to buy an online product. Besides, FTU students also read

reviews from other customers carefully before deciding to buy online. When

shopping from long distance, buyers have no chance to see real products, which

makes them have no idea about the quality of goods. However, while reading others’

comments, they will get more information about products’ quality, helpfulness and

value in real life. If a commodity receives many positive comments from people who

have experienced it, customers tend to buy it more easily. By contrast, they may stop

the intention of purchasing a product if it just has negative reviews. Hence, there is

no doubt that pricing and feedback from previous customers have a strong impact on

student’s decisions when shopping online.

Some customers also relatively concern about products’ descriptions, along

with the brand. People who care about characterization often buy electronic devices,

books, and personal things. On the other hand, when taking the product’s brand into

account, consumers tend to purchase cosmetics as well as food, and they often buy

these goods on official websites. However, products’ descriptions and brands do not

have a really significant impact on FTU students’ decisions when shopping through

the Internet.
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Figure 3: The ratio of care of students for different factors.

Besides the factors promoting customers’ buying, the factors that prevent

purchases should be considered. According to figure 8, most of the respondents

(93.3%) are afraid of buying fake products or low-quality products. It is easy to

understand that with the medium amount of money, most students hardly afford the

authentic products on official websites. Thus, they try to purchase these products in

another place with a softer price. Exactly, 93.3% of respondents choose to buy on

online websites and social media instead of buying on official websites of the

products. In addition, the majority of them are freshmen, 2nd-year students, and

junior who have income from 1 to 5 million per month. The other factors that prevent

purchases are high shipping cost with 46.7%, risks of hacking personal information

and low customer services with 30% and slow delivery with 23.3% respectively. The

numbers of respondents who scare risks of hacking personal information are partly

sophomore and junior. This object group has an average income (1-5 million/month)
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and often purchase online within 6 months. The least affecting factor is slow

delivery. Concluding from the analysis of figure 8, most of the people in this group

rarely or never buy products online. Instead, they choose to purchase products

directly because they can immediately receive their choice.

Figure 4: The factors that prevent purchases

After analyzing the factors that stop the customer from buying online, shall we

take a look at what the buyers want the sellers to improve? Drawing a conclusion

from figure 9, customers’ service (40%), the product’s description (36.7%) are the

elements that need improvement the most. These specific reactions from respondents

significantly represent the impact of the environmental factors on their online buying

decisions. When surfing to find a product, buyers will stop to see the product with

attractive images first, and they will read the description and finally use the

customers’ service is directly messaging to the firms. Thing will be like this, after

accidentally surf an image, if this image is engaging, the buyers will click to see the

product’s detail. They will read the product’s description after clicking on that

product. If the description impresses them, they will message to the sellers to ask for

more information. Buying or not then depends on the attitude of the customer’s
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service. It is concluded that the attitude of the seller is the most important thing

because it decides whether products will be sold or not. Besides, the product’s

description is also vital. Comparing 2 similar products from 2 shops, the shop has a

better and more attractive description perhaps be chosen. A good description of the

products does not completely affect the buying decisions, but the bad customers’

service will prevent buyers from buying from this shop. Thus, customer service is

one of the factors affecting the buying decisions of customers.

Figure 5: Factors that need improvement for bettering shopping online

2. Findings

The research of the thesis is aiming to answer the questions below:

● Which factors directly affect consumers’ decision - making process when

shopping online? What is the most important?

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● What should online stores do to increase the number of students shopping

online?

When all the above-mentioned factors were taken into consideration, a

conclusion could be drawn for the first question that there are four primary factors

that will affect FTU students’ online shopping decisions, which are income, feedback

from previous customers, reliability of the shop and service.

On the aspect of income, it affects items, and how often they are purchased.

The more income is, the more diverse items bought are. The more income is, the

more frequency of buying via online shopping is. For students with a small income,

they are often interested in items such as clothes and food. Meanwhile, students with

high incomes, even able to be financially independent, they are interested in items

that require clear origin and more guaranteed quality. These students often make

purchases at the item's online sites or on e-commerce sites.

Besides, the study illustrated the impact of feedback from previous customers

on buyers' behavior. Nearly three-quarters of the students said they were extremely

interested in previous customer feedback. The feedback is evidence that the product

they are about to buy is of genuine quality or not. Just a few negative feedbacks can

cause buyers to change their options. Therefore, this is an advantage for e-commerce

sites compared to social networking sites. Customers can easily leave their comments

on these e-commerce sites.

Getting lots of good feedback means that the store you are looking at is quite

reputable. The reputation of the store is one of the important factors affecting buying
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behavior. Nowadays, when the problem of counterfeit goods is raging, customers

become more suspicious about any item. A store's reliability is expressed in the

amount of rate, feedback and sometimes in interaction with customers. A reputable

store will get more attention, thereby increasing the rate of the store even more. A

majority of research indicates that trust-building, responsibility, and attitude of

sellers are the most influential factors in purchasing behavior. This reflects the belief

that an internet vendor will fulfill its promises and ethical obligations such as

delivering goods and services. When consumers feel that the sellers have been

maintaining the trust they will be happy to continue to increase their participation.

The last factor affecting the online purchasing behavior of foreign trade

students is the service. Financial risks and delivery risks are the main issues affecting

purchasing behavior. Financial risks involved when conducting financial transactions

through the Internet. These risks always exist in every financial transaction on the

Internet regardless of the number of previous transactions, including the costs

associated with returning products, shipping, and purchasing high-priced products.

and especially cybersecurity issues such as the loss of information, credit card

information theft and other important financial records - this is also the main reason

for limiting consumer online shopping. Delivery risk occurs when there is a

transaction error in the order recognition process, the seller delivers the wrong

address. From the perspective of privacy and security, it is better to provide

comprehensive information of appeal to both kinds of customers who had security

matters or never had during the process of payment, increasing their believable and

satisfaction degree.
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V. Conclusion

1. Limitation

After doing this research, there are some limitations had to notice. The first big

one is that the number of students participating in the survey is limited. 30 students

out of 10.000 students in the whole school are too scanty, not to mention students

from different courses and departments will have different ways of shopping online,

depending on time, income and demand. It leads to an unclear result in a survey with

proportions of choices of questions that are not much different.

Secondly, the options of the questions are not diverse enough. Because there are

some students filling in the "Other" section. This is also due to the scanty number

of surveyors who have not been spread evenly from freshman to seniors in

sufficient numbers. And the "Other" section also does not have the same answers,

so we will not know if it could be a popular option.

Thirdly, the online survey is very fast and convenient but it also has some

limitations. The biggest limitation is when conducting a survey, there is no

promotion to encourage more students to register. Besides, it has not fully applied

the attraction of social networks to get more students to do the survey. Next, the

content of the question is not unique enough. They are just simple questions related

to income, needs, etc. There are no interesting questions that make students excited

to answer. And the survey sample is available on Google, there is no creativity to

make the sample more eye-catching

2. Suggestion for practice

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For intermediary sales channels, it is necessary to control the quality and price

of products/services closely before connecting businesses with students and establish

a strict punishment policy for suppliers to receive bad feedback from customers.

Businesses first need to understand tax laws and relevant legal issues, train a

team of technicians, professional consultants, bring satisfaction to customers and

understand clearly information on products/services that they are providing.

Besides, the policy of price, distribution, and return of products must be public

and transparent, reducing investment in advertising to lower prices for common

premises. They need to build user-friendly websites and quick payment systems.

Finally and most importantly, the distributors need to build a security system

that protects the information of buyers.

As students - wise consumers in the era of technology 4.0, we need to make

information security a priority: don't click on strange links, emails, pop-up ads to

receive incentives, prizes, protect internet-connected devices with anti-spyware and

anti-spyware software; do not share personal information when using public wifi and

on social networks; do not use the same email address and password for many

purposes: Facebook, bank account, etc.

Feedbacks and assessments of previous buyers are the reliable and objective

references that students can consider before making a decision, you shouldn’t buy

services/products at unreputable addresses.

When in doubt, consumers need to contact the tax authorities and certificate of

business registration to check seller information.

3. Implications for further research

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Due to time constraints, knowledge as well as lack of data analysis skills, there

are many other aspects that this topic cannot be fully and deeply exploited.

The study uses quantitative research, the questionnaire of this method uses two

types of questions, closed and open. Both types of questions provide useful

information about students' thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes towards factors that

influence online shopping behavior. Respondents may not have the skills to answer

questions, do not understand or do not understand much about online shopping

services, so the answers are also sentimental. Therefore, the scales only show a

relative level of factors affecting the online shopping behavior of Foreign Trade

University students. The following researchers should design a questionnaire with

tighter and more categorical questions. To make sure that the survey works, before

being asked, these respondents should be provided with some basic guidelines.

Besides, the factors mentioned in this study are the basic ones that influence

the online purchasing behavior of Foreign Trade University students, further studies

may study other theoretical contents to build a more accurate and complete model.

Finally, because e-commerce is a vibrant and constantly changing market, the

factors that influence customers' online shopping behavior will change as time goes

by. The solutions given are only specific to the real situation, at present to promote

the factors influencing the decision to buy online in the coming period for the

audiences are students at Foreign Trade University. Based on the aforementioned

analysis, other researchers can observe closely, conduct further studies and come up

with new solutions, not only for the short term but also for the long term. From there,
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the other researches on the same topic can expand the scope of the study to other

universities or other geographic areas across the country.

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VI. References

John, W. C. (2014). How to research (4th ed.). United States of America, SAGE Publications,

Inc.

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