An Empirical Study of Consumer Switching from Traditional to Electronic Channels: A Purchase-Decision Process Perspective

TLDR

The study investigates how purchase decisions relate to consumers’ intentions to switch from traditional to electronic channels. The authors tested a theoretical model of channel‑switching intentions using data from 337 consumers. Across four product categories, 52 % of consumers switched from offline to online, driven by lower perceived risk, effort, and waiting time online and higher price‑search intentions, while demographics proved an ineffective segmentation basis.

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between purchase decisions and channel-switching intentions. A theoretical model that explains channel-switching intentions was tested with a sample of 337 consumers. The results show a 52 percent tendency to switch from off-line to on-line across four product categories: books, airline tickets, wine, and stereo systems. The order of the switching tendency was consistent with the products' search and experience attributes. Logistic regression analysis across product categories shows that differences in channel-risk perceptions, price-search intentions, evaluation effort, and waiting time have a significant impact on consumer switching from off-line to online shopping. Consumers who purchase on-line perceive significantly lower channel risk, search effort, evaluation effort, and waiting (delivery) time on-line than off-line and express significantly higher price-search intentions on-line than off-line. Consumers attracted to off-line channels also perceive lower search-cost and higher price-search intentions online than off-line, but their perceived on-line search effort and price-search intentions are significantly lower than for consumers attracted to on-line channels. These results support the important influence of the examined factors on channel switching. They also suggest that demographics may not be an effective basis for market segmentation.