Background: Shopper convenience is a key determinant of why shoppers chooseand buy from a particular retail format – online versus instore. However, there areno systematic studies that assess which dimension of shopper convenience issalient for shoppers in online versus instore shopping instore. Further, to the bestof our knowledge no study has investigated whether and how these determinantdimensions of shopper convenience have changed with the advent of COVID-19.Method: In this study, 1324 responses of 172 shoppers using the Myers and Alpert(1968) approach were analyzed to identify the determinant dimensions ofconvenience for online and instore shopping in the pre-COVID-19 era and test theirvalidity in the context of their actual purchase behavior. Later, the study wasreplicated with the same shoppers in the post-COVID-19 era.Results: The results of the study show that of the four dimensions of convenience,while shopper assessment of “search” convenience was the most importantattribute for both online and instore shopping, and “transaction” convenience themost different between the two retail outlets, the determinant dimensions in bothretail outlets were “access” and “possession” convenience with instore shoppingholding an advantage in possession” convenience and online shopping holding anadvantage in “access” convenience. However, in a replication of the study in thepost coronavirus era, online shopping outlets were found to have the advantage inboth the determinant dimensions of convenience.Conclusion: This study perhaps for the first time show how shopper convenienceperceptions have changed in pre and post COVID-19 eras for both instore andonline shopping.
展开▼
