Exploring the effect of online shopping motivations on purchase intention applied

2.6 Conclusions
Consumers use cosmetics in their daily lives as they are aware of the confidence and health 
benefits of its usage (Joseph et al., 2013). Cosmetics include not only make-up, but also skin 
care, hair care, perfumes and others in its industry (Statista, 2015). 
Although the main distributions channels of cosmetics are physical stores, online channels are 
gaining popularity amongst consumers (Allied Market Research, 2016). 
This increase in online sales of cosmetics is only possible due to the emergence of the 
electronic commerce in the past years. What started as a way of escaping the deregulation of 
the financial markets is now an increasing trend and part of our daily lives. E-commerce 
turned internet in an almost perfect market and competition is fierce among electronic players 
(Kuttner, 1998). 
Portuguese e-commerce is increasing more than the European average due to the increase in 
internet users and the number of devices per person. These numbers are believed to continue 
to increase reaching 4.4 million people purchasing online by 2020 (ACEPI, Economia Digital 
em Portugal, 2016; INE, 2015; IDC, 2015). 
Consumer motivations to purchase online have both hedonic and utilitarian dimensions 
(Childers et al., 2001). The utilitarian consumers are focused on purchasing in the most 
efficient and timely manner to achieve their final goal of fulfilling their needs (Gilly and 
Wolfinbarger, 2001). On the other hand, hedonic consumers give importance to experiences 
and arousal when purchasing a product or service (Childers et al., 2002). 
Several research questions are created to explore the effect that motivations may have on the 
online purchase intention of cosmetics. The following research questions are referred below 
in the conceptual model (Figure 5). 
RQ1: Which hedonic motivations are more relevant to explain online shopping 
motivations of cosmetics? 
RQ2: Which utilitarian motivations are more relevant to explain online shopping 
motivations of cosmetics? 
RQ3: Which motivations (utilitarian or hedonic) are stronger to explain online 
shopping motivations? 
RQ4: Do online shopping motivations influence purchase intention of cosmetics? 

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RQ5: Which motivations (utilitarian or hedonic) better help to explain purchase 
intention of cosmetics? 
RQ6: Which dimensions of utilitarian and hedonic motivations better help to explain 
purchase intention of cosmetics?