The impact of digital technology on changing consumer behaviours with special reference to the home furnishing sector in Singapore

The impact of digital technology has altered consumers' choices for decades, which has fostered large amounts of eCommerce, including in the home furnishing business. Furthermore, due to the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, consumer behaviours have changed, with consumer satisfaction influencing purchasing initiatives and decision-making online. There is insufficient research on online purchasing behaviours in the home furnishing sector in the context of Singapore. The advent of digitisation and the emergence of marketing through digital platforms compared to offline marketing have changed purchasing behaviours regarding home furnishing in Singapore. Research designs and methods, including realism philosophies, deductive approaches, a quantitative research method, a cross-sectional analysis in a descriptive research design and a questionnaire research instrument, were applied to the current study. The findings show a critical trend: consumers prefer an omnichannel approach when purchasing furniture, thereby enhancing competitive costs and personalisation designs and services. Consumers expect advantages both online and offline to maximise the benefits of their purchasing.

Easwaramoorthy Rangaswamy, Nishad Nawaz, Zhou Changzhuang