Suggested Citation:
Mokhtarian, Patricia L. and Wei Tang (2011) Modeling Shopping Channel Perceptions in the Context of Clothing or Book Purchases: The Impact of Product Type and Other Variables. Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California, Davis, Research Report UCD-ITS-RR-11-29

This paper investigates shopping channel perceptions using data collected from a custom- designed internet-based survey of two university towns in Northern California (N=967). We first factor-analyze shoppers’ perceptions of the store and internet channels with respect to the purchase decision for one of two product types: books/CDs/ DVDs/videotapes, or clothing/shoes. Eight factors are identified: convenience, product risk, enjoyment, financial/ identity risk, efficiency/inertia, cost savings, store brand independence, and post-purchase satisfaction. The perceptions for all factors, except financial/identity risk for store, differ significantly between book and clothing (p < 0.07), illustrating the dangers of eliciting general channel perceptions without regard to product type. We then develop models of the internet-specific factor scores on the product risk, financial/identity risk, and cost savings perceptions, as a function of general shopping-related attitudes, product type, experience with internet and store channels, and sociodemographics. The results clearly demonstrate the contributions of general shopping attitudes and product type to explaining the three selected perceptions, as well as more conventional variables such as age and gender. We also identify recurring “reality check” and “dissonance reduction” interpretations accounting for the roles of numerous experience and several other variables.

 Keywords: B2C e-commerce, internet shopping, online shopping, attitudes, factor analysis