Broadening the Perspective on E-Commerce: A Comparative Analysis of Mobile Shopping and Traditional Online Shopping

摘要

Prior research has considered online retailing mainly as equivalent to customers shopping through "the Internet channel". With regard to the advancing evolution of mobile shopping, this perspective is no longer applicable for research and retail. This paper addresses the issue if online retailing and mobile online retailing are perceived and utilised as two different ways of online shopping by consumers. Moreover, we also aim to identify relevant factors of consumers' intention to shop online among diverse e-channels. Therefore, we investigate consumers' evaluations of individual electronic distribution channels (e-channels) in comparison and consolidated to a retailer's multichannel e-commerce system. We empirically test a research model to capture consumers' evaluations of stationary online shopping (using a PC) and mobile shopping (using a mobile device). By conducting a scenario-based experimental design study, we examine and compare consumers' post-experience evaluations of both e-channel formats. The findings provide evidence for significant differences in the evaluation of the stationary e-channel and the mobile e-channel. In particular, the online shopping experience with the PC was evaluated more positively than the mobile shopping experience. Therefore, we suggest a more differenti- ated perspective for the definition and conceptualisation of online retailing.