Explore the Factors Contributing to Online Versus Store Shopping in Transportation Perspective: Evidence from India

Abstract

In recent times, there has been a growing demand for e-shopping as compared to in-store shopping due to rapid changes in technology as well as extensive usage of the internet. E-shopping has changed people's shopping and travel behaviour. Due to the increase in internet usage, there is a tremendous change in people's shopping choices and it further impacts the travel patterns in urban communities. In this context, the proposed study evaluates people’s shopping choice behaviour in an urban scenario. To fulfil the proposed objective, a questionnaire survey has been conducted in order to understand consumer behaviour about their shopping choices as well as the number of online orders that have been made by the user during the specified duration of time (viz., during the last one month). To analyse the collected data, a principal component based logistic regression analysis has been adopted to estimate the significant contributing factors affecting consumer shopping choices. The results show that motivational factors (viz., saving in travel time and better prices) have a significant positive impact on online shopping; however, there are concerns such as delivery time as well as care required during online payment. The frequency of using online shopping mode and recently made purchases has had a significant positive impact on online shopping. Further, it has been concluded that higher income levels and higher occupation levels negatively impact e-shopping choice. The results are useful for transport planners to predict the transformation in people's travel behaviour with respect to shopping trips in present and future scenarios.