Profiling ROPO Shoppers: Shopping Value Perspective

Abstract

Today’s consumers are multichannel shoppers, that is, they have many channel options for searching product-related information and purchase. This study focuses on one such form of multichannel shopping behavior of online search and offline purchase sequence known as ROPO (research online and purchase offline) behavior in the post-COVID-19 pandemic context. As shoppers return to stores post-COVID-19 pandemic, understanding this ROPO behavior will help retailers to develop strategies to meet their needs. This study attempts to profile the shoppers showing ROPO behavior based on the theory of perceived value of shopping, that is, shoppers select the channels at each stage of shopping that provide maximum value considering the various costs associated with those channels. Six drivers of ROPO behaviors are confirmed based on the sample of 526 respondents using confirmatory factor analysis. Furthermore, three distinct segments of shoppers—risk averters, value maximizers, and convenience seekers—showing ROPO behaviors are identified using k-means cluster analysis. Knowledge of these distinct shopper segments will provide managerial insight for retailers to provide an excellent shopping experience to their customers during the post-COVID-19 pandemic.