Determinants of continuous purchase intention on fresh food e-commerce platforms

As a populous country, China has benefited from the technological innovation and vigorous development of the artificial intelligence industry. With the rise of e-commerce, people's consumption patterns and levels have undergone significant changes. In recent years, the proportion of consumers purchasing fresh agricultural products online has increased steadily, and online purchase of fresh agricultural products has gradually become a major purchasing method for consumers. However, behind the rapid development of the fresh e-commerce industry, maintaining consumers' continuous purchase intention faces numerous challenges. Existing studies show that previous scholars have studied consumers' initial purchase intention in isolation, and only considered the direct impact of single factors such as price and safety. To make up for this deficiency, this study examines and analyzes the key factors and internal mechanisms affecting consumers' continuous purchase intention in the context of fresh e-commerce from multiple dimensions, including trust mechanism, perceived value, and service quality. The study finds that perceived information security and product price not only directly and positively affect continuous purchase intention, but also indirectly promote consumer retention through the parallel mediating effects of satisfaction and perceived usefulness. Among them, the mediating effect of perceived usefulness is particularly significant. Although switching costs fail to significantly improve satisfaction, they can exert an indirect promoting effect through perceived usefulness.