Channels for search and purchase: Does mobile Internet matter?

Singh, S; Swait, J

Channels for search and purchase: Does mobile Internet matter?

Singh, S

Swait, J

Permalink

Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 2017, 39 pp. 123 - 134
Issue Date:: 2017-11-01

Open Access

Copyright Clearance Process

Recently Added
In Progress
Open Access

This item is open access.

Adobe PDF

Download Accepted Manuscript VersionAdobe PDF (941.52 kB)

View on publisher's site

View statistics

Full metadata record

Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Singh, S https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6996-0371	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Swait, J	en_US
dc.date.available	2020-11-30T18:09:39Z
dc.date.issued	2017-11-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 2017, 39 pp. 123 - 134	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	0969-6989	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/122067
dc.description.abstract	© 2017 Elsevier Ltd Recent industry reports indicate that consumers own four digital devices on an average, and switching devices during shopping is the “new normal.” The addition of mobile Internet as a new channel of search and purchase has spurred the adoption of the digital medium, and easy accessibility of the Internet on multiple devices is influencing shopping patterns. A consumer may prefer some channels for search and others for purchase or use a combination of channels to search and purchase simultaneously. As a new channel, it is unclear 1) whether mobile Internet offers greater search or purchase benefits and 2) what type of products are more suitable for mobile Internet search and purchase. In this study, we develop a framework that describes the factors that drive the use of mobile Internet in a multi-channel environment. We test the framework using survey data from a sample of U.S consumers. The main findings from our study indicate that 1) the choice of channel combinations that include mobile relative to other channel combinations increases with an increase in perceived search convenience of mobile channel. 2) in the digital channel, mobile and desktop differ in their utility along search dimensions. The probability of choosing channel combinations that include mobile increases due to search convenience whereas desktop is attractive due to perceived gains of price comparison search; and 3) mobile Internet search increases for consumers searching for utilitarian products. The insights from this study deepen our understanding of how digital media is used in the search-purchase process and have important managerial implications.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1016/j.jretconser.2017.05.014	en_US
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.subject.classification	Marketing	en_US
dc.title	Channels for search and purchase: Does mobile Internet matter?	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	39	en_US
utslib.for	1505 Marketing	en_US
utslib.for	1503 Business and Management	en_US
utslib.for	1506 Tourism	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business/Marketing Discipline
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	39	en_US

Abstract:

© 2017 Elsevier Ltd Recent industry reports indicate that consumers own four digital devices on an average, and switching devices during shopping is the “new normal.” The addition of mobile Internet as a new channel of search and purchase has spurred the adoption of the digital medium, and easy accessibility of the Internet on multiple devices is influencing shopping patterns. A consumer may prefer some channels for search and others for purchase or use a combination of channels to search and purchase simultaneously. As a new channel, it is unclear 1) whether mobile Internet offers greater search or purchase benefits and 2) what type of products are more suitable for mobile Internet search and purchase. In this study, we develop a framework that describes the factors that drive the use of mobile Internet in a multi-channel environment. We test the framework using survey data from a sample of U.S consumers. The main findings from our study indicate that 1) the choice of channel combinations that include mobile relative to other channel combinations increases with an increase in perceived search convenience of mobile channel. 2) in the digital channel, mobile and desktop differ in their utility along search dimensions. The probability of choosing channel combinations that include mobile increases due to search convenience whereas desktop is attractive due to perceived gains of price comparison search; and 3) mobile Internet search increases for consumers searching for utilitarian products. The insights from this study deepen our understanding of how digital media is used in the search-purchase process and have important managerial implications.

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:

http://hdl.handle.net/10453/122049