IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/transa/v122y2019icp21-33.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does e-shopping replace shopping trips? Empirical evidence from Chengdu, China

Author

Listed:
  • Shi, Kunbo
  • De Vos, Jonas
  • Yang, Yongchun
  • Witlox, Frank

Abstract

With the rapid proliferation of e-retailing, the question of how e-shopping affects shopping travel has attracted increasing attention since the beginning of this century. To date, however, scholars have failed to reach a consensus on this topic. Meanwhile, China, where currently the highest level of e-retail shopping in the world takes place, has not received the full focus of previous studies. Using data from structured interviews with 710 respondents in Chengdu, China, we aim to explore whether e-shopping for four types of goods (clothes and shoes, electronics, food and drink, and cosmetics) replaces shopping trips. In addition, regression models are constructed to demonstrate the determinants of e-shopping and shopping travel behaviors. The results suggest that consumers’ e-shopping and shopping travel behaviors are significantly determined by sociodemographics, internet experience, car ownership, and location factors. E-shopping has a substitution effect on the frequency of shopping trips. It is further suggested that e-shopping could be regarded as a possible solution for urban congestion. In the long run, the number of physical stores for the four types of goods may decrease.

Suggested Citation

  • Shi, Kunbo & De Vos, Jonas & Yang, Yongchun & Witlox, Frank, 2019. "Does e-shopping replace shopping trips? Empirical evidence from Chengdu, China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 21-33.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:transa:v:122:y:2019:i:c:p:21-33
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2019.01.027
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965856418305160
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tra.2019.01.027?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yu Ding & Huapu Lu, 2017. "The interactions between online shopping and personal activity travel behavior: an analysis with a GPS-based activity travel diary," Transportation, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 311-324, March.
    2. Farag, Sendy & Schwanen, Tim & Dijst, Martin & Faber, Jan, 2007. "Shopping online and/or in-store? A structural equation model of the relationships between e-shopping and in-store shopping," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 125-141, February.
    3. William P. Anderson & Lata Chatterjee & T.R. Lakshmanan, 2003. "E‐commerce, Transportation, and Economic Geography," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(4), pages 415-432, September.
    4. Patricia Mokhtarian, 2004. "A conceptual analysis of the transportation impacts of B2C e-commerce," Transportation, Springer, vol. 31(3), pages 257-284, August.
    5. Jesse W.J. Weltevreden & Ton Van Rietbergen, 2007. "E‐Shopping Versus City Centre Shopping: The Role Of Perceived City Centre Attractiveness," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 98(1), pages 68-85, February.
    6. Sendy Farag & Jesse Weltevreden & Ton van Rietbergen & Martin Dijst & Frank van Oort, 2006. "E-Shopping in the Netherlands: Does Geography Matter?," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 33(1), pages 59-74, February.
    7. Zhen, Feng & Du, Xiaojuan & Cao, Jason & Mokhtarian, Patricia L., 2018. "The association between spatial attributes and e-shopping in the shopping process for search goods and experience goods: Evidence from Nanjing," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 291-299.
    8. Patricia L. Mokhtarian, 2002. "Telecommunications and Travel: The Case for Complementarity," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 6(2), pages 43-57, April.
    9. Lee, Richard J. & Sener, Ipek N. & Mokhtarian, Patricia L. & Handy, Susan L., 2017. "Relationships between the online and in-store shopping frequency of Davis, California residents," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 40-52.
    10. Fang Ren & Mei-Po Kwan, 2009. "The Impact of Geographic Context on E-Shopping Behavior," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 36(2), pages 262-278, April.
    11. Gould, Jane & Golob, Thomas F., 1998. "Will Electronic Home Shopping Reduce Travel?," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt2sq3k3zg, University of California Transportation Center.
    12. Panayotis Christidis & Juan Nicolás Ibanez Rivas, 2012. "Measuring road congestion," JRC Research Reports JRC69961, Joint Research Centre.
    13. Calderwood, Eric & Freathy, Paul, 2014. "Consumer mobility in the Scottish isles: The impact of internet adoption upon retail travel patterns," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 192-203.
    14. Orit Rotem-Mindali & Jesse Weltevreden, 2013. "Transport effects of e-commerce: what can be learned after years of research?," Transportation, Springer, vol. 40(5), pages 867-885, September.
    15. Chang, Yu Sang & Lee, Yong Joo & Choi, Sung Sup Brian, 2017. "Is there more traffic congestion in larger cities? -Scaling analysis of the 101 largest U.S. urban centers-," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 54-63.
    16. Weltevreden, Jesse W.J. & Rotem-Mindali, Orit, 2009. "Mobility effects of b2c and c2c e-commerce in the Netherlands: a quantitative assessment," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 83-92.
    17. Gould, Jane & Golob, Thomas F., 1997. "Shopping Without Travel or Travel Without Shopping? An Investigation of Electronic Home Shopping," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt6vc504h9, University of California Transportation Center.
    18. Zhou, Yiwei & Wang, Xiaokun (Cara), 2014. "Explore the relationship between online shopping and shopping trips: An analysis with the 2009 NHTS data," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 1-9.
    19. Cao, Xinyu (Jason), 2012. "The relationships between e-shopping and store shopping in the shopping process of search goods," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 46(7), pages 993-1002.
    20. Xinyu Cao & Zhiyi Xu & Frank Douma, 2012. "The interactions between e-shopping and traditional in-store shopping: an application of structural equations model," Transportation, Springer, vol. 39(5), pages 957-974, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mateos-Mínguez, Paloma & Arranz-López, Aldo & Soria-Lara, Julio A. & Lanzendorf, Martin, 2021. "E-shoppers and multimodal accessibility to in-store retail: An analysis of spatial and social effects," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    2. Kunbo Shi & Long Cheng & Jonas De Vos & Yongchun Yang & Wanpeng Cao & Frank Witlox, 2021. "How does purchasing intangible services online influence the travel to consume these services? A focus on a Chinese context," Transportation, Springer, vol. 48(5), pages 2605-2625, October.
    3. Shi, Kunbo & De Vos, Jonas & Cheng, Long & Yang, Yongchun & Witlox, Frank, 2021. "The influence of the built environment on online purchases of intangible services: Examining the mediating role of online purchase attitudes," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 116-126.
    4. Li, Shengxiao (Alex), 2023. "Revisiting the relationship between information and communication technologies and travel behavior: An investigation of older Americans," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    5. Pernot, Delphine, 2021. "Internet shopping for Everyday Consumer Goods: An examination of the purchasing and travel practices of click and pickup outlet customers," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    6. Limon Barua & Bo Zou & Yan Zhou & Yulin Liu, 2023. "Modeling household online shopping demand in the U.S.: a machine learning approach and comparative investigation between 2009 and 2017," Transportation, Springer, vol. 50(2), pages 437-476, April.
    7. Qing Zhai & Xinyu Cao & Patricia L. Mokhtarian & Feng Zhen, 2017. "The interactions between e-shopping and store shopping in the shopping process for search goods and experience goods," Transportation, Springer, vol. 44(5), pages 885-904, September.
    8. Zhen, Feng & Du, Xiaojuan & Cao, Jason & Mokhtarian, Patricia L., 2018. "The association between spatial attributes and e-shopping in the shopping process for search goods and experience goods: Evidence from Nanjing," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 291-299.
    9. Shah, Harsh & Carrel, Andre L. & Le, Huyen T.K., 2021. "What is your shopping travel style? Heterogeneity in US households’ online shopping and travel," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 83-98.
    10. Lee, Richard J. & Sener, Ipek N. & Mokhtarian, Patricia L. & Handy, Susan L., 2017. "Relationships between the online and in-store shopping frequency of Davis, California residents," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 40-52.
    11. Zhou, Yiwei & Wang, Xiaokun (Cara), 2014. "Explore the relationship between online shopping and shopping trips: An analysis with the 2009 NHTS data," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 1-9.
    12. Colaço, Rui & de Abreu e Silva, João, 2022. "Exploring the e-shopping geography of Lisbon: Assessing online shopping adoption for retail purchases and food deliveries using a 7-day shopping survey," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    13. Xi, Guangliang & Cao, Xinyu & Zhen, Feng, 2020. "The impacts of same day delivery online shopping on local store shopping in Nanjing, China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 35-47.
    14. Tri Basuki Joewono & Ari K. M. Tarigan & Muhamad Rizki, 2019. "Segmentation, Classification, and Determinants of In-Store Shopping Activity and Travel Behaviour in the Digitalisation Era: The Context of a Developing Country," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-23, March.
    15. Neiberger Cordula & Mensing Matthias & Kubon Jonas, 2020. "Geographische Handelsforschung im Zeitalter der Digitalisierung: Eine Bestandsaufnahme," ZFW – Advances in Economic Geography, De Gruyter, vol. 64(4), pages 197-210, November.
    16. Jing Chen & Yong Zhang & Shiyao Zhu & Lei Liu, 2021. "Does COVID-19 Affect the Behavior of Buying Fresh Food? Evidence from Wuhan, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-15, April.
    17. Yu Ding & Huapu Lu, 2017. "The interactions between online shopping and personal activity travel behavior: an analysis with a GPS-based activity travel diary," Transportation, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 311-324, March.
    18. Esra Suel & Nicolò Daina & John W. Polak, 2018. "A hazard-based approach to modelling the effects of online shopping on intershopping duration," Transportation, Springer, vol. 45(2), pages 415-428, March.
    19. Orit Rotem-Mindali & Jesse Weltevreden, 2013. "Transport effects of e-commerce: what can be learned after years of research?," Transportation, Springer, vol. 40(5), pages 867-885, September.
    20. Figliozzi, Miguel & Unnikrishnan, Avinash, 2021. "Exploring the impact of socio-demographic characteristics, health concerns, and product type on home delivery rates and expenditures during a strict COVID-19 lockdown period: A case study from Portlan," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 1-19.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:transa:v:122:y:2019:i:c:p:21-33. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/547/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.