Spatial impacts of online retailing - Store choice in the multi-channel context with regard to shopping transaction costs, effects of the spatial retail store configuration and shopping attitudes

• Applicant: Dr. Thomas Wieland
• Subject Area: Human Geography ; Accounting and Finance
• Term: from 2018 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 402130768

Retail geography raises the question of the impacts of online retailing on store retailing and its locations, such as central business districts in cities and urban district centers. Unfortunately, little attention has been paid to the real consumer behavior. In retail business economics, four fields of research that deal with consumer choice between online and store retailing can be identified: 1) shopping transactions costs (e.g. accessibility of stores, delivery time in online retailing), 2) retail competitive landscape at the consumers’ place of residence, 3) a positive attitude towards online retailing (“online affinity”) and 4) consumer market transparency in the context of the internet as an information medium. But, mostly, these studies only focus one of these aspects and are often based on online surveys and exclude non-online buyers explicitly. Furthermore, several essential results are based on survey experiments and have not been empirically examined using real shopping behavior. Moreover, the integration of online retailing in store choice models has been neglected so far. Taking consideration of these research gaps, the previous work in the research project had four goals: a) Integration of the mentioned approaches of explaining multi-channel consumer behavior in ONE study; b) integration of the customer characteristic of “online affinity” as influencing factor of perception of transaction costs and the spatial retail competitive landscape; c) empirical collection of real shopping behavior on condition that representativeness with regard to all consumer types (including non-online buyers) is given; d) statistical analysis in a store choice model. The project in progress raises the following research questions: 1) How do the transaction costs affect store choice?; 2) How does the spatial configuration of retail stores at the consumers’ place of residence affect store choice?; 3) How does the consumers’ “online affinity” affect store choice?; 4) How does the consumers’ “online affinity” affect the perception of transaction costs and retail supply configuration? To examine these questions empirically, a standardized consumer survey was conducted including real shopping behavior (in several retail sectors), an item catalogue to measure “online affinity” and socio-demographic characteristics. To achieve to aim of representativeness, this data collection was conducted as a written postal survey in two heterogeneous German survey areas (South-Lower Saxony, Middle Upper Rhine Region), both more or less representing German “average” conditions. The impacts of the mentioned factors on store choice are analyzed using a micro-econometric store choice model (hurdle model). In a project renewal, the scope of the project will be extended by incorporating a third survey area (Regionale Planungsgemeinschaft Halle). Furthermore, also the cross-channel integration of physical stores is investigated.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants