Does the payment method matter in online shopping behaviour? Study on the Romanian market of vegetables during the pandemic crisis

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34
Original Paper Agricultural Economics – Czech, 70, 2024 (1): 34–47
https://doi.org/10.17221/314/2023-AGRICECON
Supported by Romanian Academy, Iasi Brunch, project CITIES2030 ‘Co-creating resilient and sustainable food towards
FOOD2030’, grant 101000640, supported by European Union Horizon 2020 programme.
© eauthors. is work islicensed under aCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC4.0).
Does the payment method matter inonline shopping
behaviour? Study onthe Romanian market ofvegetables
during the pandemic crisis
I-S B1, C C1,2*, L T1,
S-R U1,2, M G1,3, A R J4
1
Gheorghe Zane Institute for Economic and Social Research, Romanian Academy, Iasi Branch, Iasi, Romania
2 Integrated Centre of Environmental Science Studies in the North East Region (CERNESIM), Institute
ofInterdisciplinary Research, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University ofIasi, Iasi, Romania
3Doctoral School of Economics and Business Administration, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi,
Iasi, Romania
4Academy ofRomanian Scientists, Bucharest, Romania
*Corresponding author: cristina.cautisanu@uaic.ro
Citation: Brumă I.S., Cautisanu C., Tanasă L., Ulman S.R., Gâlea M., Jelea A.R. (2024): Does the payment method matter inonline
shopping behaviour? Study onthe Romanian market ofvegetables during the pandemic crisis. Agric. Econ. – Czech, 70: 34–47.
Abstract: e present study, centred oncustomer online shopping behaviours, aims atanalysing the frequency ofvege-
table acquisition and its main determining factors, while considering dierent methods ofpayment, i.e. cash, debit card,
and bank transfer onthe Romanian market. Using data obtained from aquestionnaire applied nationwide, adescriptive
analysis and logistic regression were performed. An immature market interms ofdigitalisation, characterised by the
customers’ mistrust inonline bank transfers, but also inproducts sold online was observed. Inaddition, the income,
education, gender, and size ofthe household appeared tobe signicant inrelation tothe frequency ofonline orders
for vegetables. Moreover, our results indicated that ahigher customer readiness for a high price, large quantity, and
amonthly delivery subscription comes bundled with a higher frequency ofacquisition inthe case of bank transfers.
Our ndings are especially focusing on the vegetable local producers’ promotion process, with its main desideratum
ofproperly responding through adaptation tothe continuously changing customers’ requirements, particularly when
special contexts like the pandemic appear. Accordingly, our paper intended tooer several concrete responses inthis
regard, indicating some possible paths for better managing the communication process onthe vegetable market.
Keywords: fresh vegetables; methods ofpayment; online purchasing behaviours; particularities ofthe oer; Romania;
socio-demographic and economic factors
Given the specicity of the COVID-19 pandemic,
with its certain limitations with regard toboth profes-
sional and personal life features, individuals were put
inthe situation offorced adaptation inorder toman-
age new daily challenges and to be able to continue
their actual activities aseciently aspossible. Accord-
ingly, organisations faced the need torecongure their
knowledge with respect to customers’ habits, prefer-

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Agricultural Economics – Czech, 70, 2024 (1): 34–47 Original Paper
https://doi.org/10.17221/314/2023-AGRICECON
ences, patterns ofconsumption, and acquisition. One
visible change is represented by a larger openness
toonline demands and acquisitions, which especially
challenged the small producers that needed torapidly
adapt tothis new requirement. Reviewing the prior lit-
erature, Venkatesh etal. (2022) identied two streams
of research in regard to online shopping: i) one that
centres onthe consumers’ behaviour inregard toon-
line shopping atparticular shops, and ii) one focusing
more onthe main reasons ofconsumers for choosing
toshop online ingeneral, such as reasons ofroutine,
ease, planning, and cost eciency (Ahuja etal. 2003;
Yang and Lester 2004; Khalifa and Liu 2007; Yang etal.
2007; Al-Debei etal. 2015; Bryla 2018). e health cri-
sis determined byCOVID-19 and the specic restric-
tions for overcoming itseem to represent additional
reasons that are closely related tothe above-mentioned
ones.
For example, the study of Jensen etal. (2021) ob-
served that the changes remained inplace even inthe
summer of2020, when the peak of the crisis attenu-
ated. However, questions inregard to their adoption
in the long run and to the possibility of becoming
part ofdaily habits appeared across the literature. For
example, authors like Grashius et al. (2020) aimed
atnding out the manner inwhich digital peculiarities
with regards to the pandemic context might impact
the option ofchoosing online grocery shopping. ey
concluded that the higher orientation toonline acqui-
sition ispredominantly aconsequence ofthe specic
pandemic restrictions and, thus, only a temporary
habit determined by them, with minimum chances
toreplace the brick-and-mortar shopping inthe long
run. However, the consumers, based onthe most im-
portant benets of online shopping in general and,
inparticular, onthose regarding online food acquisi-
tion aswell, boosted bythe pandemic totry this type
offood oer, could discover that itdeserves toremain
afrequent habit.
Contextually, as a consequence of a higher cus-
tomers’ orientation toonline buying, the production
sector has become more oriented toits digital capa-
bilities inneed of a close linkage to the characteris-
tics oftheir target segments, including the modality
ofpayment chosen inthe purchasing process. ere-
fore, these concerns related tocustomer specicities
are accurate and justied, asalso indicated by Mas-
carenhas and Phad (2021). Moreover, itheld true even
with more conventional and perishable products like
vegetables, acase inwhich the small farmers had also
tocomply with the demands ofcustomers, inclusively
inregard tothe online manner ofacquisition, acceler-
ated bythe COVID-19 pandemic and by the ocial
measures imposed for its counteraction. is isespe-
cially explained when considering the main advantag-
es ofonline platforms, such astime saved, 24/7avail-
ability, variety of products, discounts, convenience,
comparison shopping, better return policies, home
delivery (Saluja etal. 2018; Pandey and Parmar 2019)
and digital payment methods, such as fast payment,
convenience, ease of use, no need to carry cash,
no fear of theft, increasing the prestige of custom-
ers, getting special oers, etc. (Praveen and Hebbar
2021). Asdiverse major limitations, dierent aspects
inregard tothe nancial, product, and delivery risks
have been pointed out (Ho and Awan 2019), such
asno tangibility, notracking ability, lack oftrust, delay
indeliveries, nointeraction with the seller, and even
fraud (Saluja et al. 2018; Pandey and Parmar 2019).
Inaddition, asemphasised byAnjum and Chai (2020),
studies addressing dierent topics showed that some
of the main factors generating the unwillingness
ofcustomers touse dierent e-payment methods ap-
pear tobe related toprivacy and safety (Mekovec and
Hutinski 2012; Maqableh etal. 2015). However, in the
context in which e-commerce is continously develop-
ing, many individuals still do not detain enough expe-
rience in online payments.
e methods ofpayment regarding online shopping
could bedivided into two types ofpayment, i.e. oine
(for example, cash) and online (Ho and Awan 2019).
Inthis way, the credit card, followed byonline bank
transfers, represents atype ofpayment method com-
monly used inthe case ofonline shopping (Martínez-
López etal. 2014). Chiejina and Olamide (2014) ob-
served intheir research that, especially indeveloping
and emerging economies, customers frequently have
akind ofreluctance when they need tooer their pri-
vate details with regards totheir bank accounts and,
inthis context, nd the process inconvenient (Ho and
Awan 2019). Inaddition, as mentioned by Mascar-
enhas and Phad (2021), the fact that alarge number
ofe-consumers are still relying oncash payments may
bethe result ofthree types offear, like i) fear ofbeing
hacked byonline hackers, ii) fear ofthe e-tailer not re-
funding within the stipulated time, oriii) fear ofgiving
access toall their bank details tovarious known and
unknown sources. Accordingly, the ndings suggest-
ed that online marketers should take proper measures
for maintaining the privacy and safety ofonline pay-
ments of e-consumers, while oering a trustworthy
and transparent digital payment mode (Mascaren-
hasand Phad 2021).

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Original Paper Agricultural Economics – Czech, 70, 2024 (1): 34–47
https://doi.org/10.17221/314/2023-AGRICECON
As indicated by Xiao et al. (2018), personal socio-
economic characteristics were shown torepresent the
most signicant factors inrelation toonline shopping,
especially when referring toe-shopping spending and
frequency. Among them, the age, gender, education,
orincome are some ofthe most frequently selected for
analysis and shown tobe signicant inregard toonline
shopping. AsVenkatesh etal. (2022) pointed out, alack
ofsimilitudes inregard toonline shopping behaviours
when analysing gender and age groups were indicated
inprevious research (e.g. Lian and Lin 2008; Lian and
Yen 2014). Still, others did not show any clear dieren-
tiation (e.g. Van den Poel and Buckinx 2005; Hernán-
dez etal. 2011). However, asrevealed inmany studies
(Hiser etal. 1999; Farag etal. 2005; Van Droogenbroe-
ck and Van Hove 2017; Bryla 2018; Etumnu and Wid-
mar 2020; Venkatesh etal. 2022), the age represented
afactor that negatively aected the probability ofon-
line grocery shopping. Inthis context, asBartók etal.
(2021) showed, people over 56 years of age seem not
to be very oriented in buying groceries online, even
inthe context ofthe pandemic, while those between 46
and 55 years ofage appear tobe the most open ones,
anexplanation inthis regard might berelated tomore
time constraints and ahigher need for exibility. Mov-
ing on, based onthe results ofdierent studies, incon-
sistencies interms ofthe role ofgender might beob-
served. For instance, Van den Poel and Buckinx (2005)
indicated that men are more oriented toshop online,
while Hasan (2010) and Dai et al. (2019) found that
women appear tobe more open in this regard. With
respect to education, Mascarenhas and Phad (2021)
observed that people possessing ahigher level ofedu-
cation formed alarger share ofonline purchases than
those with alow level. In terms ofgrocery shopping,
a greater likelihood was also associated with higher
levels ofeducational background (Hiser etal. 1999; Van
Droogenbroeck and Van Hove 2017; Etumnu and Wid-
mar 2020; Jaller and Pahwa 2020; Jensen etal. 2021).
Inregard toincome, studies found its positive eects
(Hansen 2005; Hernández et al. 2011; Bartók et al.
2021) ononline shopping, including grocery shopping.
Inthis way, individuals having higher incomes showed
ahigher inclination topurchase groceries online, po-
tentially explained by the additional nancial possi-
bilities ofpaying for the grocery transport and/or even
supporting higher costs for the same types ofproducts
(Bartók etal. 2021). Still, Jensen etal. (2021) found that
the pandemic appears tobe asignicant factor inu-
encing the shopping online option among low-income
households also.
Accordingly, as shown in the literature, the COV-
ID-19 pandemic has registered signicant inuence
onconsumer behaviour innumerous ways. Inthe pre-
sent study, weanalysed the eects ofsuch individual
factors in the constraining sanitary restrictions im-
posed bythe context ofthe pandemic onconsumer on-
line shopping behaviours and payment options inthe
case of a food category that is more perishable and,
accordingly, especially amenable to a tactile evalua-
tion, i.e. the one offresh vegetables (Figure 1). Divid-
ing the individuals depending on their preference for
apayment method or other category, thus observing
their openness and, consequently, their trust inonline
transactions, itis expected tobetter reveal the deeper
aspects that tend to be the most important in deter-
mining the increased frequency in the act of online
shopping. Besides the socio-demographic and eco-
nomic determinants also considered inthe literature,
weadded factors related tothe peculiarities ofthe oer
– such as the price, quantity bought, and preference
to opt for a monthly subscription. e option to in-
clude them between the more commonly analysed ones
interms ofthe frequency ofonline shopping might add
value tothe study. Accordingly, weintended toobserve
whether the characteristics ofthe oer might beable
toinuence the frequency ofthe online shopping and,
if so, what isthe nature ofthis signicant eect (Fig-
ure1).
Frequency of
online shopping
Method of
payment cash
payment
debit
card
bank
transfer
Socio-demographic
and economic factors
Gender
Age
Education
Income
No. of persons in
the househould
Price
Quantity
Subscription
Particularities of the
oer
Figure 1. Conceptual framework for
the analysis ofthe frequency ofonline
vegetables shopping in function
ofthe payment method and its main
factors
Source: Authors’ own elaboration

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Agricultural Economics – Czech, 70, 2024 (1): 34–47 Original Paper
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Based on the ndings of our study, supported
by the results of other papers from academic litera-
ture, the present investigation could beof interest es-
pecially for the producers with their continuous need
toadapt to aspecic changing societal context. Taking
into consideration the fact that this study was devot-
ed tothe online buying ofvegetables, the study espe-
cially addresses small local farmers that generally tend
tobe reluctant to change. Accordingly, itconstitutes
analarm for them, showing the importance ofproper-
ly responding tothe market requirements if they want
tohave anecient and durable activity. Consequently,
the aim ofthis paper isto emphasise some signicant
individual socio-demographic and economic factors
(age, gender, education, income, number of persons
inthe household), but also specic peculiarities ofthe
oer (option tomake asubscription, quantity bought,
prices) for determining the frequency ofthe online ac-
quisitions depending onthe most used consumer pay-
ment method inthe Romanian market for fresh vegeta-
bles during the pandemic crisis.
Following the main objective ofthe study, weshall
consider the hypotheses stated inFigure 2.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
In order tostudy the frequency of online purchas-
ing of fresh vegetables in relation to the peculiari-
ties ofthe oer (i.e. subscription, quantity, price) and
socio-demographic and economic factors (i.e. age,
gender, education, income, number ofpersons inthe
household), wecreated aquestionnaire and conduct-
ed itnationwide between April 10 and May 15, 2020.
It has to be underlined that this questionnaire was
dedicated only tothe analysis ofonline shopping and,
consequently, the respondents who mentioned that
donot purchase using digital tools were not eligible
toparticipate inour survey.
e survey was conducted within the Rural Devel-
opment Research Platform (RDRP), established inIași,
Romania inJanuary 2016, representing aninterdiscipli-
nary research group inthe eld ofrural and urban sys-
tems and their development within the contemporary
European Union. Itwas initiated bythe authors ofthis
study with the main aim ofadvancing acollaborative
and innovative hub dedicated toscientic research and
knowledge transfer.
e data was collected through anonline method-
ology, the questionnaire being administered through
Google Forms and distributed on Facebook (RDRP
page and several other pages having common in-
terests with vegetable production and selling, for
example, local producers), asit represents the main
social media platform used inRomania. is meth-
odology has unique advantages vs. other methods
like TAWI (tablet assisted web interviewing), Input,
CATI (computer assisted telephone interviewing),
PAPI (paper assisted personal interviewing) (Van
Selm and Jankowski 2006), namely: i) collected data
inone database while not using any manual input;
ii) ashorter time required for data processing, with
no need of any input; iii) availability of real-time
information regarding the completion of the data;
iv) a higher reach, due to the ease with which the
potential respondents can beapproached; v) absence
ofinterviewer bias; and vi) ahigher availability ofre-
spondents totake part inthe study. e individuals
who participated with the questionnaire gave their
informed consent. Inaddition, the authors presented
the purpose of the study inthe introductory para-
graph and mentioned tothe participants that noper-
sonal information will beobtained and/or used and
H1H3
H2
Modern online payment methods
are frequently used during the
COVID-19 pandemic for online
shopping of vegetables in the
Romanian context.
Socio-demographic and economic
individual particularities such as
age, gender, education, income and
number of persons in the house-
hold, but also some related to the
oer, such as price, quantity, and
option of products delivered based
on a monthly subscription,
represent determinant factors of
online shopping of vegetables.
ere are dierences among the
signicant factors of online
vegetable shopping as a function
of the method of payment
chosen by consumers.
Figure 2. Research hypotheses
Source: Authors’ own elaboration

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Original Paper Agricultural Economics – Czech, 70, 2024 (1): 34–47
https://doi.org/10.17221/314/2023-AGRICECON
that they are free toquit the survey anytime, without
repercussions. e database was created using Mi-
crosoft Excel, exported in Tableau Public (version
2022.1) for elaborating the gures and inIBM Statis-
tical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS, version
20) for processingthe empirical analysis.
e sample size comprised 1806 respondents from
Romania. e number ofvalid answers ishigher than
the estimated sample size (1067) in the case of the
Romanian population, while considering a95% con-
dence level and a3% margin oferror.
Based on the responses to the questions adminis-
tered in the applied questionnaire, several variables
were created (Figure 3). eir values reect the re-
sponses received inthe questionnaire, nosupplemen-
tary transformations being necessary.
Based onthe responses given tothe question regard-
ing the method ofpayment used, wedivided the data-
base into three parts, the rst one containing only the
respondents declaring that cash payment is the most
frequently used method in online shopping of fresh
vegetables, the second – the ones using the debit card,
and the third one – the respondents selecting abank
transfer. In each group of respondents, we rst per-
formed descriptive statistics to characterise them
inregard totheir frequency ofthe online shopping, the
peculiarities of the oer and the socio-demographic
and economic aspects. Next, we applied logistic re-
gression models toidentify how the frequency ofthe
purchase isinuenced bythe other variables. e ob-
tained results were also compared among the methods
ofpayment inorder toidentify how producers should
cope with the customers’ behaviours regarding the ac-
quisition offresh vegetables.
Logistic regression modelling isperformed when the
dependent variable is abinary one, inour case, the fre-
quency ofonline shopping isdened as adichotomous
variable (Figure 3). Weestimated the probability that
arespondent will have ahigh frequency depending on
aset ofvariables, the conditional mean being thus for-
mulated between the bounds of0 and 1. e maximum
likelihood yields values for the unknown parameters
which maximise the probability of obtaining the ob-
served set ofdata. e goodness-of-t for the estimat-
ed models was veried using the Hosmer-Lemeshow
test (Hosmer etal. 2013).
Gender
Socio-demographic and economic factors
Peculiarities of the oer
e respondents' gender.
0 = male, 1 = female
Age
e respondents' age.
1 = 19–34*, 2 = 35–49, 3 = 50–64, 4 = 65+
Price
e minimum price that the respondent
would be ready to pay for direct delivery
of products ordered online.
0 = low (maximum 100 RON, approx. 20 EUR),
1 = high (more than 100 RON, approx. 20 EUR)
Quantity
e quantity of products ordered online.
0 = small (max. 5 kg), 1 = large (> 5 kg)
Education
e respondents' level of education1.
1 = middle school* (ISCED 1&2), 2 = high school
(ISCED 3), 3 = Bachelor's degree (ISCED 6),
4 = Master's degree (ISCED 7),
5 = Ph.D. (ISCED 8)
Frequency
e frequency of buying fresh vegetables
in online environment.
0 = low (once a month or less),
1 = high (more than once a month)
Payment method
e method of payment most
frequently used by the respondent
for the products ordered online.
1 = cash payment, 2 = debit card,
3 = bank transfer
No. of persons
e number of persons living in the household.
1 = 1 person*, 2 = 2 persons, 3 = 3 persons,
4 = 4 persons, 5 = 5 persons, 6 = 6 persons
Subscription
e interest for the delivery of products
ordered online based on a monthly subscription.
0 = no, 1 = yes
Income
e income at the household level.
1 = approx. < EUR 600 (< RON 3 000)*
2 = approx. EUR 600–900 (RON 3 000–4 499)
3 = approx. EUR 901–1 200 (RON 4 500–5 999)
4 = approx. EUR 1 201–1 510 (RON 6 000–7 499)
5 = approx. EUR 1 511–1 810 (RON 7 500–8 999 )
6 = approx. EUR 1 811–2 115 (RON 9 000–10 499)
7 = approx. EUR 2 116+ EUR (RON 10 500+)
Figure 3. Description ofthe variables included inthe study
*the reference category inthe logistic regression models explained inthe methodology section ofthe paper; 1classifica-
tion made according toUNESCO (2011)
Source: Authors’ own elaboration

39
Agricultural Economics – Czech, 70, 2024 (1): 34–47 Original Paper
https://doi.org/10.17221/314/2023-AGRICECON
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
From the 1806 respondents, 857 ofthem opted for the
debit card as apreferred method ofpayment inregard
tothe online shopping ofvegetables, 812 respondents
preferred cash, while only 137 of them used a bank
transfer more frequently. is result partially conrms
our rst hypothesis (H1). Itis true that ahigher percent-
age ofpeople (47.54%) from our sample opted for pay-
ments with adebit card, but the second option, inan
approximatively equal percentage (44.96%), was the
one paying with cash. is situation reveals that, inthe
analysed punctual context, i.e. the Romanian one, the
investigated market isstill immature interms ofdigi-
talisation, which conrms the ndings ofanother study
observing the same conjuncture (Tanasă etal. 2022).
Accordingly, akind ofmistrust inonline bank transfers,
but also inthe producers selling online vegetables, de-
termines the customers’ choice toopt more frequently
for the types ofpayments that rstly oer the posibil-
ity to observe the vegetables to be purchased. is lack
oftrust inproducers isalso strengthened bythe pecu-
liarities ofthis type offood product, especially interms
ofits rapid spoilage.
An overview of the main socio-demographic and
economic characteristics ofthe respondents from this
study is illustrated in Figure 4. Our respondents are
preponderantly females, approximately equally distrib-
Gender (%)
Age (%)
Education (%)
Income in EUR (%)
Number of persons in the household (%)
Debit card
pozn.: jednotku (%) by som uviedla v názve Figure
1 2 3 4 5 6
20.54 5.60 2.457.47 33.96 29.99
Ph.D.
Middle
school
High
school
Bachelor's
degree
Master's
degree
12.37 9.6811.4418.6718.099.92 19.84
50–64 65+19–34 35–49
16.57 3.7333.37 46.32
37.11 1.7519.60 3.2738.27
MaleFemale
26.2573.75
Cash payment
1 2 3 4 5 6
24.88 6.03 5.307.51 25.12 31.16
Ph.D.
Middle
school
High
school
Bachelor's
degree
Master's
degree
2 116+
Bank transfer
1 2 3 4 5 6
24.09 7.30 1.468.76 27.74 30.66
Ph.D.
Middle
school
High
school
Bachelor's
degree
Master's
degree
12.41 10.229.4919.7121.907.30 18.98
50–64 65+19–34 35–49
16.06 2.1935.04 46.72
37.23 1.4616.06 2.1943.07
MaleFemale
22.6377.37
< 600 600
–900
901
–1 200
1 511
–1 810
1 811
–2 115
1 201
–1 510
7.39 5.429.7316.1319.3317.2424.75
50–64 65+19–34 35–49
22.17 3.0826.11 48.65
27.59 3.5710.34 12.4446.06
MaleFemale
25.0075.00
2 116+< 600 600
–900
901
–1 200
1 511
–1 810
1 811
–2 115
1 201
–1 510 2 116+< 600 600
–900
901
–1 200
1 511
–1 810
1 811
–2 115
1 201
–1 510
Figure 4. Sample description interms ofgender, age, education, income, and number ofpersons inthe household
infunction ofthe payment method
Source: Authors’ own elaboration, carried out with Tableau Public version 2022.1

40
Original Paper Agricultural Economics – Czech, 70, 2024 (1): 34–47
https://doi.org/10.17221/314/2023-AGRICECON
uted across the three payment methods (cash payment,
debit card, and bank transfer).
With regard to age, the most numerous category
with regards to the respondent’s age includes in-
dividuals between 35 and 49 years of age, followed
byyounger people, between 24–34 years ofage, and,
then, byolder people between 50–64 years ofage. e
smallest group of people is that of the eldest ones,
having 65+. Interms ofeducation, the majority ofthe
respondents graduated from either a high school or
auniversity with amaster’s degree, while the extremi-
ties, i.e.middle school orhaving aPh.D., represent the
least numerous categories. e income seems todeter-
mine the most heterogenic groups ofindividuals, ap-
proximatively balanced as apercentage, but with high-
er values, between approx. EUR 600 and EUR 1 510
(RON3000 and RON7499), meaning that this isthe
most predominant interval of respondents’ income
that buy vegetables online. Asto the number ofpeo-
ple inthe household, the groups with two, three, and
four members are predominant. Considering the high-
est percentages of all these socio-demographic and
economic variables, we could state that the predomi-
nant prole ofthe individuals opting for cash orbank
transfer inthe case of the online vegetable shopping
isthe following: female, aged between 35 and 49 years,
graduated from ahigh school, with anincome between
approx. EUR600 and EUR 900 (RON 3000 and RON
4499), having three members inher household. Inthe
case ofthe debit card, this prole isquite similar, the
dierence isin the number ofindividuals living inthe
household, in this case, the most numerous group
isthe one with four members.
Analysing the frequency of acquisition in terms
ofhigh and low percentages, Figure 5 shows that the
distribution ofrespondents tends tobe well-balanced.
Accordingly, a low frequency is selected by the re-
spondents in percentages varying between 36.17%
and 40.87%, while a high frequency, in percentages
varies between 61.70% and 63.83%. In addition, the
individuals indicating ahigh frequency ofacquisition
and opting for the cash method ofpayment are espe-
cially the ones that tend to apply for a subscription,
buy insmall quantities, and prefer low prices. Anap-
proximatively similar situation is met with the ones
that opt for the debit card payment method but have
the same frequency with regards tothe online acquisi-
tion. Dierences could beobserved when analysing the
responses ofthose opting for the bank transfer asthe
method of payment used for their online shopping
(while having the same high frequency), asfollows: low-
er reticence upon making asubscription (from 41.87%
or41.32% in the case ofdebit card and cash payment
groups, respectively, comparatively to 22.23% in this
Cash payment Bank transferDebit card
pozn.: jednotku (%) by som uviedla v názve Figure
PriceQuantitySubscription
PriceQuantitySubscription
Frequency
low
86.78
low
36.17
high
63.83
small
89.04
no
61.62
yes
38.38
high
13.22
large
10.96
low
85.20
small
90.50
no
41.87 yes
58.13
high
14.80
large
9.50
PriceQuantitySubscription
PriceQuantitySubscription
Frequency
low
82.32
low
38.30
high
61.70
small
84.57
no
62.38
yes
37.62
high
17.68
large
15.43
low
87.63
small
90.02
no
41.32 yes
58.68
high
12.37
large
9.98
PriceQuantitySubscription
PriceQuantitySubscription
Frequency
low
80.36
low
40.87
high
59.13
small
89.29
no
46.43 yes
53.57
high
19.64
large
10.71
low
76.55
small
85.19
no
22.23 yes
77.77
high
23.45
large
14.81
Figure 5. Sample structure byprice, quantity and subscription depending onthe frequency ofacquisition infunction
ofthe payment method
Source: Authors’ own elaboration, carried out with Tableau Public version 2022.1

41
Agricultural Economics – Czech, 70, 2024 (1): 34–47 Original Paper
https://doi.org/10.17221/314/2023-AGRICECON
case); higher preference for alarge quantity of prod-
ucts ordered (from 9.50% or9.98% inthe other cases
to14.81% inthis situation) and for ahigh price (from
14.80% or12.37% to23.45%). us, ahigher availability
ofthe ones who opt for bank transfers asthe payment
method for their online shopping, for the higher prices,
higher quantities, and, also, for making asubscription
inthe case ofvegetables, could beobserved.
On the contrary, most of the individuals tended
tohave alow frequency ofonline vegetable acquisition,
when opting for the cash payment method, preferring
tonot make a subscription, while the same predilec-
tion for asmall quantity and alow price still remained.
In the case of the debit card, when the respondents
tended toindicate alow frequency ofacquisition, the
dierences could be seen with regard to the prefer-
ences in terms of the quantity and price, with lower
tendencies ofpreferring large quantities and high veg-
etable prices. Inthe case ofbank transfers, compared
to the other two methods of payment, the ones that
opt for the low frequency ofacquisition tend toprefer
making asubscription, the small quantities, and high
prices more. As ageneral observation, the respondents
using the bank transfer, whatever their choice in re-
gard to the frequency of acquisition, are more likely
toopt for asubscription, toorder alarge quantity, and
pay ahigh price, compared tothe other two payment
methods that seem tobe more alike each other. Mov-
ing onand taking the delimitation made with regard
tothe methods ofpayment into consideration (i.e. cash
payment, debit card, and bank transfer), we focused
onstudying the probability ofincreasing the frequency
ofpurchasing fresh vegetables inrelation tothe aspects
referring tothe peculiarities ofthe oer (i.e. subscrip-
tion, quantity, price) and socio-demographic and eco-
nomic characteristics (i.e. gender, age, number ofper-
sons, education, and income). Inthis respect, Table1
lists the results of the estimated logistic regression
model for each method ofpayment.
As observed, the peculiarities ofthe oer have dierent
inuences onthe frequency ofthe purchase depending
onthe used payment method. Onone hand, the increasing
openness in regard to purchasing online products
using amonthly subscription appears toregister asignif-
icant and positive impact onthe frequency ofpurchasing
for all payment methods (coecient=0.811; probabil-
ity=0.01 for the cash payment; coecient = 0.802, prob-
ability = 0.01 for the debit card; and coecient = 1.013,
probability = 0.05 for the bank transfer). Onthe other
hand, the impact of increasing the quantity and price
of the products is dierent from one method of pay-
ment toanother. Inthis way, inthe case ofrespondents
who use cash payments and adebit card, the inuence
isnegative while, inthose using abank transfer, itis posi-
tive. However, the coecients are statistically signicant
(coecient = –0.546, probability = 0.01 for the quantity
and coecient = –0.694, probability = 0.01 for the price)
only for the cash payment.
Referring to the socio-demographic and economic
characteristics ofthe respondents, i.e. gender, income,
and number of individuals living in the household,
they register signicant inuences upon the frequency
ofpurchasing fresh vegetable. us, females are more
inclined toincrease their shopping frequency than men
when they use cash payments and bank transfers (coe-
cient = 0.522, probability = 0.01 and coecient=0.978,
probability = 0.10). e probability ofincreasing the fre-
quency also increases with anincrease inthe level ofin-
Table 1. Econometric modelling results (dependent variable: frequence)
Variable Cash payment Debit card Bank tranfer
coecient (SE) Wald statistic coecient (SE) Wald statistic coecient (SE) Wald statistic
Subscription 0.811*** (0.166) 23.865 0.802*** (0.165) 23.726 1.013** (0.445) 5.194
Quantity –0.546*** (0.253) 4.643 –0.358 (0.276) 1.681 0.134* (0.668) 0.040
Price –0.694*** (0.234) 8.802 –0.291 (0.246) 1.402 0.109* (0.556) 0.039
Gender 0.522*** (0.200) 6..790 –0.014 (0.188) 0.005 0.978* (0.555) 3.104
Age 0.060 (0.109) 0.307 0.079 (0.103) 0.587 –0.131 (0.284) 0.214
Education 0.107 (0.092) 1.346 –0.139 (0.095) 2.128 0.223 (0.259) 0.746
Income 0.108** (0.055) 3.883 0.127** (0.050) 6.429 –0.111 (0.132) 0.710
No. ofpersons 0.089* (0.070) 1.634 0.181** (0.076) 5.754 0.383** (0.196) 3.825
Constant 0.303 (0.562) 0.290 0.316 (0.316) 0.324 –2.160 (1.498) 2.078
***null hypothesis rejection for 1%; **null hypothesis rejection for 5%; *null hypothesis rejection for 10%.
Source: Authors’ own results obtained using IBM SPSS Statistics v. 20

42
Original Paper Agricultural Economics – Czech, 70, 2024 (1): 34–47
https://doi.org/10.17221/314/2023-AGRICECON
come ofthe respondents using the cash and debit card
payments (coecient = 0.108, probability = 0.05 and
coecient = 0.127, probability=0.05). Asto the num-
ber ofpersons from ahousehold, regardless oftheused
payment method, the inuence is positive, meaning
that, asthe size of the family increases, the frequency
of shopping increases (coecient = 0.089, probabili-
ty=0.10 for the cash payment, coecient=0.181, prob-
ability = 0.05 for the debit card, and coecient=0.383,
probability=0.05 for the bank transfer).
In addition, the distinctions between the reference
category ofthe variables and the other used categories
are listed inTable 2, and some remarks might beformu-
lated based onthem. For example, with respect tothe
reference category ofincome, the expansion ofits level
seems to imply the probability of increasing the fre-
quency ofpurchasing fresh vegetables for respondents
who declared that they use a cash payment and debit
card, and negatively for the ones using a bank trans-
fer. Concerning the increase in the size of the family,
reported to the reference category (i.e. one person),
in general, in all the estimated models, the inuence
onthe probability ofhaving high frequencies ofbuying
is apositive one, yet statistically signicant only inthe
case ofrespondents that usually use the debit card and
bank transfer, and have three to ve members in the
household. A similar situation is applied in the case
ofeducation when, reported tothe reference category
(i.e. middle school), asthe level ofeducation increases,
the probability of increasing the frequency of buying
isobserved, whichever the method ofpayment, but itis
statistically signicant only inrespondents who main-
ly use a cash payment (coecient = 1.072, probabil-
ity=0.05 for ahigh school diploma; coecient=1.535,
probability = 0.01 for a bachelor’s degree; coe-
cient= 1.408, probability= 0.01 for a master’s degree;
and coecient=0.995, probability=0.10 for aPh.D.).
e results ofthe goodness-of-t statistics were pre-
sented for each model (Table 2). e Hosmer-Leme-
show test emphasised that the estimated models were
well-tted. Also, the statistically signicant values
ofthe Omnibus tests ofthe model coecients indicated
causal relationships within the estimated logit models.
To synthesise, dierences interms ofthe determin-
ing factors inrelation tothe method ofpayment used
by the online shopper were observed. Accordingly,
the income, education, gender and size ofhousehold,
as the main socio-demographic and economic vari-
ables, in general appeared to be signicant in rela-
tion to the frequency of the online orders for veg-
etables, thus conrming the results of other studies
devoted toonline shopping (for example, Hasan 2010;
Hernández etal. 2011; Jaller and Pahwa 2020; Bartók
etal. 2021; Jensen etal. 2021; Mascarenhas and Phad
2021;Venkateshetal. 2022).
i) e income seemed topreponderantly have aposi-
tive inuence inrelation tothe frequency of the veg-
etable online shopping. ese results conrm the ones
ofHansen (2005), Hernández et al. (2011), orBartók
etal. (2021). Our ndings also support the conclusions
ofJensen etal. (2021) with regard to the low-income
group [in our case, the one between approx. EUR 600–
900 EUR (RON 3000–4499)]. e study emphasised
that the pandemic exerted an important inuence
onthe choice to shop online among the low-income
households, who were previously less oriented towards
utilising it. Accordingly, the pandemic context appears
to represent a signicant driver of change in terms
of embracing digitalisation across the entire society.
is could represent anadditional positive step against
the limited chances for the full participation ofthe eco-
nomically disadvantaged Romanian people tothe soci-
etal development, especially interms ofeducation and
economic growth.
ii) e gender was also signicantly linked toonline
shopping inthe way that females tended to shop for
vegetables more frequently online compared tomen,
proving awider openness tothe digitalisation process
atleast inregard tothe purchasing behaviour. is ob-
servation comes to conrm the conclusions of some
other studies (Hasan 2010; Dai etal. 2019; Jaller and
Pahwa 2020), while contradicting others (Farag etal.
2005; Ettumnu and Widmar 2020).
In the same way, iii) the education and iv) the size ofthe
household were found topositively inuence the online
vegetable consumer behaviour interms ofthefrequency
ofacquisition, strengthening the results provided inthe
literature (Ettumnu and Widmar 2020; Jaller and Pahwa
2020; Jensen etal. 2021). ese variables and their posi-
tive inuence found inthe study come tosupport the
idea ofsustainable food consumption with its two broad
behaviour strategies, i.e. one related tosustainable prod-
uct choices and the other regarding sustainable dietary
patterns interms ofthe composition ofthe product cat-
egories (Brumă etal. 2022).
v) e age did not seem toregister any signicant in-
uence inour discussion, not conrming the ndings
ofthe most actual studies analysing the age inrelation
tothe online shopping (Bartók etal. 2021; Venkatesh
etal. 2022), while conrming other less recent ones –
Van Den Poel and Buckinx (2005) orHernández etal.
(2011). is nding could also beexplained consider-

43
Agricultural Economics – Czech, 70, 2024 (1): 34–47 Original Paper
https://doi.org/10.17221/314/2023-AGRICECON
ing the national cultural context inwhich the eldest ap-
pear tobe more reticent tochange. Inthis context, our
second hypothesis (H2) was partially supported, with
the exception especially being made with regard tothe
age, which did not seem tobe linked tothe frequency
ofthe online vegetable acquisition, whatever the meth-
od ofpayment chosen bythe online shoppers.
In addition, our study brought three other variables
related tothe oer and considered relevant for online
shopping into consideration, especially in the case
Table 2. Econometric modelling results centering onthe reference category (dependent variable: frequency)
Variable Cash payment Debit card Bank transfer
coecient (SE) Wald statistic coecient (SE) Wald statistic coecient (SE) Wald statistic
Subscription 0.811*** (0.170) 22.876 0.785*** (0.168) 21.703 1.282*** (0.497) 6.644
Quantity –0.510* (0.261) 3.818 –0.381 (0.283) 1.806 –0.048* (0.744) 0.004
Price –0.667*** (0.241) 7.672 –0.340 (0.252) 1.821 0.215* (0.655) 0.108
Gender –0.534** (0.206) 6.719 0.034 (0.193) 0.032 –0.937 (0.613) 2.331
Age –2.172 –2.776 – 0.230
35-49 0.090 (0.028) 0.028 0.096 (0.461) 0.043 0.792 (1.754) 0.204
50-64 0.350 (0.527) 0.440 –0.021 (0.455) 0.002 0.738 (1.760) 0.176
65+ 0.366 (0.534) 0.470 0.396 (0.477) 0.688 0.655 (1.835) 0.128
Education *** 13.758 – 6.211 – 0.210
High school 1.072** (0.524) 4.176 0.131 (0.774) 0.029 0.562 (2.526) 0.050
Bachelor’s degree 1.535*** (0.488) 9.900 0.291 (0.662) 0.194 0.521 (2.104) 0.061
Master’s degree 1.408*** (0.498) 7.981 –0.207 (0.667) 0.096 0.609 (2.095) 0.084
Ph.D. 0.995* (0.541) 3.280 0.018 (0.677) 0.001 0.767 (2.163) .0126
Income – 4.852 ** 11.462 – 5.050
EUR 600–900
(RON 3000–4499) 0.238 (0.255) 0.872 0.779** (0.334) 5.434 –0.499 (1.413) 0.125
EUR 901–1200
(RON 4500–5999) 0.322 (0.281) 1.306 1.052*** (0.346) 9.230 –0.115 (1.403) 0.007
EUR 1201–1510
(RON 6000–7499) 0.367 (0.297) 1.523 0.874** (0.346) 6.362 –1.406 (1.430) 0.967
EUR 1511–1810
(RON 7500–8999) 0.487 (0.363) 1.802 0.736*** (0.385) 3.630 –1.377 (1.503) 0.839
EUR 1811–2115
(RON 9000–10499) 0.745* (0.423) 3.103 1.054*** (0.385) 7.490 –1.045 (1.473) 0.503
EUR 2116+
(RON 10500+) 0.786 (0.538) 2.139 1.105*** (0.424) 6.803 –0.206 (1.552) 0.018
No. ofpersons – 1.434 ** 13.536 – 6.346
2 –0.006 (0.345) 0.001 0.783** (0.332) 5.550 0.741 (0.943) 0.617
3 0.133 (0344) 0.149 0.904*** (0.344) 6.894 1.328 (0.976) 1.853
4 0.161 (0.356) 0.205 1.227*** (0.368) 11.131 1.813* (1.002) 3.275
5 0.008 (0.468) 0.001 1.356*** (0.482) 7.909 2.672** (1.353) 3.897
6 0.427 (0.492) 0.755 0.502 (0.595) 0.713 –19.694 (0.192) 0.001
Constant –1.350* (0.737) 3.356 –1.547** (0.786) 3.879 –1.707 (3.386) 0.254
Hosmer and
Lemeshow test 1.830 [0.986] 10.993 [0.202] 5.564 [0.696]
Omnibus test 123.562 [0.000] 142.315 [0.000] 48.421 [0.003]
***null hypothesis rejection for 1%; **null hypothesis rejection for 5%; *null hypothesis rejection for 10%; the values
insquare brackets represent P-values corresponding toχ2 from Hosmer and Lemeshow test and Omnibus test
Source: Authors’ own results obtained using IBM SPSS Statistics v. 20

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https://doi.org/10.17221/314/2023-AGRICECON
ofvegetables, i.e. the price, quantity bought, and the
openness for a monthly subscription. It was shown
that, when online shoppers were oriented tothe bank
transfer method ofpayment, the tendency toopt for
a large quantity of vegetables and a high price posi-
tively inuenced the probability of a more frequent
online acquisition ofthis type of product. Moreover,
the results prove tobe contrary inthe case ofthe cash
method of payment, while they become insignicant
when the debit card isdiscussed, which conrms our
third hypothesis (H3).
is perspective could becompleted and fully under-
stood when also analysing the inuence ofthe socio-de-
mographic and economic variables considered inthis
study. Accordingly, especially the size ofthe household
proves to be relevant in the case of bank transfers,
emphasising that people with a large household tend
toopt more frequently for asubscription, and for prod-
ucts with ahigher price and in alarger quantity, which
are more oriented toplace more frequent online orders
inthe case of vegetables. In other words, in the case
ofbank transfers, the readiness for ahigh price, large
quantity, monthly subscription comes bundled with
a higher frequency of acquisition. In this equation,
weconsider that the key aspect is the producer who
has togain the trust ofthe customers possibly included
in this prole and convincing them to become loyal.
is loyalty could betransformed, as shown bythese
results, into ahigher frequency ofonline shopping and,
thus, amore dynamic and ecient organisational activ-
ity. Tocomplete this image, the other categories ofcus-
tomers that opt for the dierent methods ofpayment
should not beneglected. Establishing the most impor-
tant factors in the case of online shoppers and their
preferences with regard tothe oer could prove tobe
pertinent, especially inthe case of organisations that
are ontheir rst steps ontheir online buying process,
ashappened with the small local producers ofvegeta-
bles pushed bythe pandemic crisis toadapt themselves
tothe new requirements ofthe market. us, our nd-
ings might beseen as apartial response tothe concern
related tothe appropriate coordination ofthe promo-
tion and communication process, open tothe continu-
ously changing customer peculiarities interms oftheir
dierent personal needs, requirements, and/or tastes.
As anoverview, the study focused onan image ofthe
purchasing behaviour impacted by aparticular context
and how itchanged in terms of openness to utilising
digitalisation. When referring to a national perspec-
tive, uniformity ofchange isnot areality, particularities
determined by dierent socio-economic and cultural
issues are visible inthe manner in which the adapta-
tion occurred. Besides the fact that these adjustments
were both positive and negative while revealing several
national vulnerabilities asin regard tothe readiness for
using digitalisation, the most important thing isto un-
derstand them, learn from the lessons oered in this
health crisis, and establish aims to correct the weak
points inan integrative and coordinated systemic ap-
proach atmicro, mezzo, and national levels.
We consider that our study represents auseful initia-
tive for the Romanian vegetable market, asit observes
the vegetable consumer behaviours with respect tothe
relationship between the frequency ofonline shopping
and the preferred method ofpayment inthis particu-
lar national context. Ofcourse, this paper has certain
limitations, among which we mention: i) our sample
structure belongs tourban areas only, ii) the reduced
number of used variables as the determining factors
ofthe online shopping, iii) the limited sample size and
the high dierences between the number of online
customers choosing one method ofpayment orother;
iv)the impossibility tocompare the results ofthe study
from the period of the pandemic with some previ-
ous ndings inthis regard, to concretely observe the
change inthis specic national context. Still, consider-
ing the last limitation, as a future research topic, the
investigation of the period following the pandemic
should be of high interest for observing whether the
behaviours regarding the online shopping ofvegetables
are maintained orhave changed when the ocial and/
or self-imposed restrictions are lifted orare nolonger
necessary.
CONCLUSION
e changes imposed to individuals by the COV-
ID-19 pandemic included anample palette ofprofes-
sional and personal issues. Similarly, organisations also
needed torecongure their knowledge related totheir
customer habits, preferences, patterns of consump-
tion, and acquisition, according tothe observed chang-
es. One organisational challenge was represented
bythe larger openness toonline demands and acquisi-
tions, mainly inthe case of the small local producers
that needed toadapt to this new requirement as fast
asthe other producers better positioned inthe market.
Our study iscentred ononline shopping behaviours
ofcustomers with regard to the frequency of placing
online orders for vegetables and its main determining
factors, while also considering the dierent payment
methods more frequently chosen bythe respondents,

45
Agricultural Economics – Czech, 70, 2024 (1): 34–47 Original Paper
https://doi.org/10.17221/314/2023-AGRICECON
i.e. cash, debit card, and bank transfer. e specic
context ofanalysis was anational one, i.e. the Roma-
nian vegetable market, focusing onthe customers that
buy this type ofproduct online.
e image oered by our results revealed an im-
mature market in terms of digitalisation, character-
ised byasort ofcustomer mistrust inthe online bank
transfers, but also inthe products sold online. Inde-
tail, the Romanians, intheir majority, are not yet pre-
pared to pay before they receive the vegetables they
order, tending toespecially utilise cash and adebit card
asmethods ofpayment. Based onour descriptive anal-
ysis, asageneral rule, itwas observed that the respond-
ents using the bank transfer are more open to asub-
scription, toorder a large quantity and topay ahigh
price, compared to the other two payment methods
that seem tobe more alike each other.
In addition, our results showed dierences interms
of the determining factors, depending on the meth-
odofpayment used bythe online shopper. e income,
education, gender, and size ofhousehold, asthe most
of the main socio-demographic and economic vari-
ables, appeared tobe signicant, inrelation tothe fre-
quency ofthe online orders for vegetables, thus con-
rming the results obtained in other studies devoted
to online shopping. e main results showed that:
i)the income seemed to have a preponderantly posi-
tive inuence on the frequency of the vegetable on-
line shopping; ii) gender was also signicantly linked
toitinthe way that females tended toshop more fre-
quently online for vegetables; iii) the education; and
iv)size ofhousehold were found topositively inuence
the online vegetable consumer behaviour; v) the age
did not seem toregister any signicant inuence.
Moreover, the other three variables related tothe of-
fer and considered tobe relevant inthe context ofon-
line shopping and especially inthe case ofvegetables,
i.e. the price, quantity bought, and openness for on-
line purchasing using a monthly subscription were
brought into focus. Itwas shown that when the online
shoppers were oriented toi) the bank transfer meth-
od ofpayment, the tendency toopt for alarge quan-
tityofvegetables and ahigh price positively inuenced
the probability of amore frequent online acquisition
ofthis type ofproduct; ii) the results proved tobe con-
trary inthe case ofthe cash method ofpayment, while
iii) they become insignicant when the debit card
isdiscussed. Based on these results, itcould be stat-
ed that ahigher customer readiness for ahigh price,
large quantity, and monthly subscription comes bun-
dled with ahigher frequency ofacquisition inthe case
ofbank transfers chosen as the method of payment.
Consequently, akey aspect isthe necessity ofthe pro-
ducers paying more attention towards the customers
possibly included inthis prole, and toconvince them
tobecome loyal. e high gain ofthis strategy would
bethat this loyalty could induce, asshown by the re-
sults ofour study, ahigher frequency ofonline shop-
ping and, thus, amore dynamic and ecient organisa-
tional activity. Still, the other categories ofcustomers
that opt for dierent methods ofpayments should not
beneglected.
All these ndings seem torespond, to acertain ex-
tent, tothe concern regarding the way inwhich local
producers of vegetables have to better adapt to the
need of their targeted consumers with their prefer-
ences and requirements changing over time. us, fo-
cus isrecommended tobe placed ondeveloping their
promotion processes for gaining the customer’s loyalty
and for transforming the producer’s organisational ac-
tivity into amodern, ecient, reliable, and durable one.
Acknowledgement: is research was conducted
within Food for Iași Living Lab, project CITIES2030
‘Co-creating resilient and sustainable food towards
FOOD2030’, grant 101000640, supported byEuropean
Union Horizon 2020 programme. e authors would
like tothank their colleagues Codrin Dinu Vasiliu and
Sebastian Doboș for their support in elaborating the
questionnaire and data collection. e content ofthis
material does not reect the ocial opinion ofthe Eu-
ropean Union. Responsibility for the information and
views expressed therein lies entirely with the author.
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Received: September 19, 2023
Accepted: January 11, 2023