Shopping online and/or in-store? A structural equation model of the relationships between e-shopping and in-store shopping

Searching product information or buying goods online is becoming increasingly popular and could affect shopping trips. However, the relationship between e-shopping and in-store shopping is currently unclear. The aim of this study is to investigate empirically how the frequencies of online searching, online buying, and non-daily shopping trips relate to each other, after controlling for sociodemographic, land use, behavioral, and attitudinal characteristics. Data were collected from 826 respondents residing in four municipalities (one urban, three suburban) in the center of the Netherlands, using a shopping survey. Structural Equation Modeling was used to give insight in the mutual dependencies of the endogenous variables, and in direct and indirect effects between variables. The findings suggest that complementarity or generation between e-shopping and in-store shopping seems to be more likely to occur than substitution. The more often people search online, the more shopping trips they tend to make. Frequent in-store shoppers also buy frequently online. Shop accessibility has a negative effect on the frequency of online searching; the more shops are nearby, the less often persons search online. However, shop accessibility influences the frequency of online buying positively; the more shops are nearby, the more often persons buy online. Urbanisation level affects e-shopping indirectly via Internet use: urban residents shop online more often than suburban residents do, because urban residents use the Internet more often.

Strategic review of travel information research

Report to The Department for Transport, London, U

Traveline market research: Scoping study

Report to Traveline Marketing Group, Londo

To use or not to use? An empirical study of pre-trip public transport information for business and leisure trips and comparison with car travel

This quantitative study provides more insight into the relative strength of various factors affecting the use and non-use of pre-trip Public Transport (PT) information for business and leisure trips. It also illuminates comparing car with public transport and its consequences for mode choice. The factors affecting PT information use most strongly are travel behaviour and sociodemographics, but travel attitudes, information factors, and social surrounding also play a role. Public transport use and PT . information use are closely connected, with travel behaviour having a stronger impact on information use than vice versa. Information service providers are recommended to market PT information simultaneously with public transport use. © 2011

E-Shopping and its interactions with in-store shopping

Nowadays, the Internet permeates society: for many people, life without the Internet is hard to imagine. E-shopping (searching and/or buying products online) has rapidly gained popularity in the past few years, and could affect consumers’ visits to stores. The goal of this research is to show which consumers shop online and how this relates to their store visits. The findings show that people who frequently shop online do not visit stores less often. On the contrary; store visits seem to be stimulated by e-shopping. Additionally, e-shopping seems to be encouraged by visiting stores. For the present, it looks as if retailers need not worry about the closure of their stores through an increase in e-shopping. In the long term, however, this is not beyond the realms of possibility. Sociodemographics, Internet behaviour, and shopping attitudes are all associated with the adoption of e-shopping. Where you live and how many stores are close by are factors that also affect online shopping. E-shopping is unlikely to function as a means of reducing travel, although the results also show that e-shopping might substitute for shopping trips. Overall, more rather than less travel is likely to occur. More travel leads to more pollution, so policy makers have to be aware of the potential environmental effects of e-shopping

What affects use of pretrip public transport information?: Empirical results of a qualitative study

With the rise of the Internet and mobile phone, various forms of public transport information services have emerged that enable people to make better informed travel choices. Nevertheless, many people are unaware of these information services, and only a minority of the public uses them. Lack of awareness is only one of several barriers to travel information use. A study was done on factors influencing the pretrip use of public transport information services (via different media-the Internet, telephone, paper timetables, asking staff). A social-psychological perspective has been adopted that takes habit, attitudes, anticipated emotions, and perceived behavioral control into account. Twelve face-to-face in-depth interviews and six focus groups were conducted across the United Kingdom among car drivers and public transport users. Results show that social-psychological factors seem to be important determinants of travel information use. External factors such as trip context could affect these determinants. People do not tend to travel by public transport without consulting any public transport information, unless there are no time constraints, the service runs frequently, or the journey is local. Individuals also seem to have a default source of travel information that they use for most trips. Except for most people older than 60, the Internet dominates as the common default travel information source. Phoning an inquiries line is unpopular across all age groups, but for different reasons: older people prefer face-to-face contact by visiting their local station, whereas younger people prefer to look up the information for themselves online

Exploring the Use of E-Shopping and Its Impact on Personal Travel Behavior in the Netherlands

The Internet makes it possible to conduct activities such as working and shopping without traveling to activity places. As e-shopping becomes popular, it can fundamentally change travel behavior. The presented study uses a literature review, an Internet survey of e-shoppers, and the Netherlands National Travel Survey to analyze the possible impact of e-shopping on travel behavior. The findings indicate that people living in areas with relatively many shopping opportunities buy online as often as do people who live in areas with relatively few shopping opportunities. People who spend a lot of time on in-store shopping typically are women, are more than 60 years old, have a low level of education, are on a low income, and live in a more urbanized area. Online buyers can be characterized as men between ages 25 and 40 who are highly educated, have a high income, and live in a less urbanized area. Four hypotheses were derived to describe the future impact of e-shopping on travel. First, some shopping time will be saved and used for other maintenance or leisure activities instead. Second, the enlargement and fragmentation of an individual's action spaces will be fostered and so lead to increased travel distances. Third, e-shopping will affect travel behavior most in the urbanized western part and in the less urbanized parts of the Netherlands. Finally, a reduction in car travel in the less urbanized areas of the Netherlands and a reduction in walking and cycling in the more urbanized areas of the Netherlands are expected

Empirical investigation of online searching and buying and their relationship to shopping trips

Searching product information or buying goods online is becoming increasingly popular and could affect shopping trips. However, the relationship between e-shopping and in-store shopping is currently unclear. The aim of this study is to investigate empirically how the frequencies of online searching, online buying, and nondaily shopping trips relate to each other, after controlling for sociodemographic, land use, behavioral, and attitudinal characteristics. Data were collected from 826 respondents residing in four municipalities (one urban, three suburban) in the center of the Netherlands, with the use of a shopping survey. Path analysis was used to model direct and indirect effects. The findings suggest that complementarity or generation between e-shopping and in-store shopping appears to be more likely than substitution. The more often people search online, the more shopping trips they tend to make. Individuals who frequently search or buy online tend to be male, young, single, adventurous, and frequent Internet users; have a high income; and have a positive attitude toward e-shopping. The residential environment affects e-shopping indirectly via Internet use; urban residents shop online more often than suburban residents do because urban residents use the Internet more often. Frequent in-store shoppers tend to be female and highly educated, have a high income, have no car, and have a positive attitude toward in-store shopping. It appears that for most individuals e-shopping is just another way of shopping, complementary to their in-store shopping

A comparative study of attitude theory and other theoretical models for understanding travel behaviour

In this study we investigate the extent to which the integration of psychological mechanisms from attitude theory into conventional analytical approaches can advance our understanding of travel behaviour. Three models, which explain volitions (intentions) in different ways, are specified and discussed: a customary model (CM) that directly links attitude and external variables (eg sociodemographics) to volition; a simplified version of the extended model of goal-directed behaviour (EMGB) that links attitude to volition via behavioural desire; and a hybrid model (HM) that integrates the two former models. Using survey data about the volition to buy media products (books, music, and DVDs, for example) online and in-store collected in four locations in the Utrecht region, the Netherlands, we find that shopping behaviour is reasonably well explained by the simplified EMGB. Past behaviour, perceived behavioural control, and subjective norms all have a statistically significant impact on the volition to shop online, while goal desire and perceived behavioural control significantly affect the volition to shop in-store. The results of the HM indicate that it is important to take external variables, such as access to physical stores and gender, into account when explaining shopping behaviour.

E-shopping and its relationship with in-store shopping: Empirical evidence from the Netherlands and the USA

Despite considerable examination of the impact of telecommunications on travel, little empirical evidence sheds light on the impact of e-shopping on travel - a recent and increasingly popular form of telecommunications. This paper analyses determinants of online buying and their relationship with in-store shopping, using empirical data obtained from Minneapolis, USA, and Utrecht, the Netherlands. Based on chi-square tests and logistic and ordinary least-squares regressions, the results indicate that online buying is affected by sociodemographics and spatial characteristics of people, their Internet experience, and their attitudes towards in-store shopping. US respondents who prefer to see products in person are less likely to buy online. Dutch respondents are more likely to buy online as travel times to shops are shorter. At first sight, this counterintuitive result might be related to an urban, innovative lifestyle that supports e-shopping. A more detailed analysis of Dutch online buyers reveals that they make more shopping trips than non-online buyers and have a shorter shopping duration. The results indicate that the relationship between online buying and in-store shopping is not one of substitution but of complementarity. © 2006 Taylor & Francis