Motivations for Shopping Channel Preferences and Purchase Intentions: The Moderating Role of Involvement (A Structured Abstract)

Abstract

Although many scholars studied different aspects of online shopping versus in-store shopping, there are still questions about the effects of common shopping motivations on customers’ shopping channel preferences and purchase intentions. Theoretically, the literature about the motivations of shoppers’ channel preferences is almost a one-sided focus on online shopping or a sole concentration on in-store purchasing. Furthermore, the effects of shopping channel preferences on purchase intentions are not well established. Practically, while managers need to know which values consumers take into account when they choose shopping channels, our current knowledge is limited. Moreover, since the ultimate goal of marketing managers is to increase the purchase intentions, they should consider the effects of different motivations for shopping channel preferences on customer purchasing intentions. The surprising recent shutdown of well-known retailers in Canada, Future Shop and Target, again highlighted the necessity of comprehensive studies about customers’ shopping channel preferences and purchase intentions. Filling the existing gap in the literature, this research conceptually tries to shed more light not only on the effects of shopping motivations on channel preferences, but also on consumers’ purchase intentions in the preferred shopping channels.