Att köpa eller inte att köpa? En kvalitativ studie om unga mäns uppfattade motiv och trösklar till att köpa kläder på internet

Sammanfattning: The internet has become an important source of commerce in a relative short period of time, and Sweden is no exception where e-commerce sales reached 55 billion SEK in 2014 alone. Furthermore, online sales increased by 16% in 2014. Apparel is one of the categories that is said to have contributed the most to this development. However, despite shopping more online than women in general, men do not shop nearly as much apparel online as women. Therefore, this essay aims to describe the drivers of and barriers to purchasing apparel through the internet, as perceived by young men. Using a qualitative method we conducted semi-structured individual interviews with six respondents. All respondents were men between 20 and 30 years old. The empirical results were analysed using a theoretical framework consisting of previous research on the areas concerning e-commerce in general and with regards to apparel, drivers of and barriers to online shopping, and hedonic and utilitarian shopping motives, and e-commerce with regards to gender. Our findings showed that the respondents perceived availability and a wide assortment, comfort, and the possibility of paying less for a piece of clothing online than in a physical store, as the main drivers for purchasing apparel online. The respondents perceived uncertainties with regards to size and fit, the risk of having to return a piece of clothing that did not fit, and the risk of jeopardizing one's comfort as being the main barriers to purchasing apparel online. Contrary to previous research, the respondents did not perceive the risk of providing payment details and personal information as a main barrier to purchasing apparel online.