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Multichannel retailing: profiling the multichannel shopper

2007; Routledge; Volume: 17; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/09593960701189937

1466-4402

Peter McGoldrick, Natalie M. Collins,

Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification

Abstract Abstract While some Internet-only retailers survive and prosper, for most, multichannel retailing provides a sustainable and attractive blend of new and existing retail formats. The complementary roles of stores and Internet are frequently noted, yet the renewed significance of catalogues is often ignored. This paper is based upon a survey of 2,341 shoppers across three product sectors and three shopping scenarios, identifying their relative utilization of, and attitudes towards, stores, catalogues and the Internet. Principal component analysis and multi-attribute analysis (MAA) scores summarize attitudes across the three channels, sectors and motivational scenarios. Four major components in channel choice emerge consistently: risk reduction, product value, ease of shopping and experiential. K-Means clustering on preference and behavioural variables identifies the truly multichannel shopper segment. Key characteristics of these shoppers are summarized, demonstrating that the multichannel shopper comprises a large and mainstream segment. Implications are identified for retailers and researchers. Key words: Multichannel retailingmultichannel shopping, Internet shopperscatalogue shoppersmulti-attribute modelshopping scenarios Acknowledgements The authors are grateful to the companies within the Manchester Retail Research Forum for their facilitation and financial support of this study. Particular thanks are due to the managers and staff of the Tesco and Asda/Wal Mart stores, at which the exploratory and survey testing stages of the study were conducted. We would also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers and the journal editors for providing constructive and timely suggestions for the improvement of this paper.