Citation: Monoarfa, T.A.; Sumarwan,
U.; Suroso, A.I.; Wulandari, R. Switch
or Stay? Applying a
Push–Pull–Mooring Framework to
Evaluate Behavior in E-Grocery
Shopping. Sustainability 2023, 15,
6018 . https://doi.org/10.3390/
su15076018
Academic Editors: Kurt
A. Rosentrater, Darija Lemi´ c,
Klaudija Carovi´ c-Stanko,
Kristina Kljak, Jernej Jakše, Arup
Kumar Goswami and Craig Sturrock
Received: 1 February 2023
Revised: 9 March 2023
Accepted: 28 March 2023
Published: 30 March 2023
Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) license (https://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
4.0/).
sustainability
Article
Switch or Stay? Applying a Push–Pull–Mooring Framework to
Evaluate Behavior in E-Grocery Shopping
Terrylina A. Monoarfa
1,
* , Ujang Sumarwan
2
, Arif I. Suroso
3
and Ririn Wulandari
4
1
Faculty of Economics, Universitas Negeri Jakarta, Jakarta 13220, Indonesia
2
Department of Family and Consumer Science, IPB University, Bogor 16680, Indonesia
3
School of Business, IPB University, Bogor 16680, Indonesia; arifimamsuroso@apps.ipb.ac.id
4
Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Mercu Buana, Jakarta 11650, Indonesia
* Correspondence: terrylina@unj.ac.id
Abstract: This study investigates the antecedents of the intention to switch to e-grocery shopping
during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is critical in recommending that e-grocery shopping service
providers improve their competitiveness by responding to customer expectations. This study pro-
poses a push–pull–mooring framework to describe the influence of dissatisfaction on the physical
market, the attractiveness of e-grocery, and switching costs as factors that drive switching intentions.
This study surveyed 252 Indonesians aware of the existence of an e-grocery mobile application, and
applied structural equation modeling as an analytical method to explain causal relationships between
variables thought to influence switching intentions to e-grocery shopping. The results showed that
the attractiveness of e-grocery had a significant effect on switching intention. Likewise, switching
costs ultimately drive customer intention to switch to e-grocery shopping. However, dissatisfaction
is not a driving factor directly affecting switching costs and intentions. Finally, e-grocery services
cannot replace the local tradition of Indonesian people who prefer to shop for groceries in physical
markets. Nevertheless, these findings provide theoretical and practical contributions to retail grocery
businesses that have integrated conventional and digital services as a future strategy that drives
business sustainability.
Keywords: switching intention; e-grocery shopping; push–pull–mooring
1. Introduction
The i formation search process is the initial stage of the purchase decision [1]. The
era of digitalization exposes consumers to various alternative media to access information
about goods and services before making a purchase decision. Statista stated that shopping
behavior in the Southeast Asia region in 2025 will switch to digital shopping behavior.
Online music and video streaming, online learning applications, e-grocery applications,
and food delivery services are new products in an emerging digital market. The emergence
of COVID-19 seems to have accelerated the process of technology adoption. Based on
e-commerce research from the Central Statistics Bureau in 2021, the demand for grocery
and food delivery services has increased rapidly during the pandemic. Even compared to
other categories, the number of online shopping transactions for groceries and food reaches
30 percent and dominates all online shopping transactions [2]. The pandemic situation and
social restriction policies prompted using mobile applications, such as Tanihub, Sayurbox,
Cari Sayur, or Happyfresh, to access online grocery shopping. L.E.K. Consulting stated
that among several grocery marketing channels, online marketing channels are considered
the most strategic channels to penetrate the market [3]. The penetration rate of e-grocery
in Indonesia showed an increase in gross merchandise value of USD 1 billion in 2020,
so the growth of e-grocery in Indonesia could reach USD 6 billion by 2025. Based on
the increasing intention to e-grocery shop and the projection of the development of e-
grocery retail business in Indonesia, this study proposes the following research question:
Sustainability 2023, 15, 6018 . https://doi.org/10.3390/su15076018 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability