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

零售地理位置提出了一个问题，即在线零售对商店零售及其位置的影响，例如城市的中央商务区和城区中心。不幸的是，很少有人关注真正的消费者行为。在零售商业经济学中，关于消费者在网上和商店零售之间的选择的研究可以确定为四个领域：1)购物交易成本(例如，商店的可及性、在线零售的送货时间)，2)消费者居住地的零售竞争格局，3)对在线零售的积极态度(“在线亲和力”)，以及4)互联网作为信息媒介的消费者市场透明度。但大多数情况下，这些研究只关注其中一个方面，而且往往基于在线调查，明确排除了非在线买家。此外，一些基本的结果是基于调查实验的，并没有使用真实的购物行为进行经验检验。此外，到目前为止，在线零售与店铺选择模式的整合一直被忽视。考虑到这些研究空白，本研究项目以前的工作有四个目标：a)将上述解释多渠道消费者行为的方法整合到一个研究中；b)整合顾客的“在线亲和力”特征作为交易成本感知的影响因素和空间零售竞争格局；c)在给出所有消费者类型(包括非在线买家)代表性的条件下，对真实的购物行为进行实证收集；d)在商店选择模型中进行统计分析。该项目提出了以下研究问题：1)交易成本如何影响门店选择？2)消费者居住地零售店的空间配置如何影响门店选择？3)消费者的“线上亲和力”如何影响门店选择？4)消费者的“线上亲和力”如何影响交易成本感知和零售供给配置？为了经验性地检验这些问题，进行了一项标准化的消费者调查，其中包括真实的购物行为(在几个零售部门)，一个商品目录来衡量“在线亲和力”和社会人口特征。为了达到代表性的目的，这项数据收集是在两个不同的德国调查地区(南萨克森州-下萨克森州和中上莱茵州)进行的书面邮寄调查，这两个地区或多或少都代表了德国的“平均”状况。运用微观计量经济学门店选择模型(栅栏模型)分析了上述因素对门店选择的影响。在项目更新中，将通过纳入第三个调查区(Regionale Planungsgomeinschaft Halle)来扩大项目的范围。此外，还对实体店的跨渠道整合进行了研究。

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.