The Value and Risk of Curated Shopping: Online Consumer’s Choice

Online shopping is attractive to consumers because they can look for and compare products faster and easier. However, as the number of products available online continues to increase at a dizzying pace, consumers have to spend more time and effort searching for relevant product information. As a result, curated shopping, which recommends a limited number of products carefully chosen by professional shopping curators, is becoming more popular among online consumers. In this study, the authors empirically investigate how consumers’ perceived risk, perceived value of curated shopping, and personal characteristics affect their decision to use curated shopping. The results show that perceived convenience, the efficiency of curated shopping, and the degree of shopping fatigue are positive factors that increase the intention to use curated shopping. On the other hand, perceived financial risk is shown to be a significant negative factor. The study found, furthermore, that previous experiences with curated shopping moderate the aforementioned relationships. The authors also discuss the academic and practical implications of these findings.