Journal of Services Marketing

Services purchased at brick and mortar versus online stores, and shopping motivation
Rajasree K. Rajamma Audhesh K. Paswan Gopala Ganesh
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Rajasree K. Rajamma Audhesh K. Paswan Gopala Ganesh, (2007),"Services purchased at brick and mortar versus online
stores, and shopping motivation", Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 21 Iss 3 pp. 200 - 212
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 Services purchased at brick and mortar versus
online stores, and shopping motivation
Rajasree K. Rajamma
Charles F. Dolan School of Business, Fairfield University, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA, and
Audhesh K. Paswan and Gopala Ganesh
Department of Marketing and Logistics, College of Business Administration, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, USA

Abstract
Purpose – This study seeks to explore the idea that consumers select a particular shopping mode – i.e. bricks and mortar versus online outlet – based
on their perceptions about whether a product or service is best bought from one or the other. It aims to posit that this perception is associated with the
importance allocated to various shopping motivation dimensions.
Design/methodology/approach – Data for this study were collected using a self-administered mail survey from 689 internet-enabled US households.
They represent a 28 percent response from 2,500 households that received the survey. Extensive non-response analysis ruled out serious bias in the
data.
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Findings – The results from this empirical study suggest that different shopping motivations indeed influence perceptions of service type and shopping
mode congruence differently. In addition, the results also suggest that services are more likely to be associated with the online shopping mode, whereas
more tangible products are likely to be associated with bricks and mortar stores.
Originality/value – The findings have significant implications for services retail managers of both bricks and mortar and online service outlets in the
areas of segmentations, targeting, and retail mix strategies. Apparently, consumers also tend to group related services or products into homogeneous
shopping baskets based on their perception of congruence between the product or service and the shopping mode – online versus bricks and mortar
store. These findings should help a manager plan for retailing mix strategies, catering to various shopping motivation dimensions, thus enhancing
consumer satisfaction. In addition, the results hold important implications in the areas of segmentation and targeting decisions.

Keywords Electronic commerce, Motivation (psychology), Retailing, Perception, Consumer behaviour

Paper type Research paper

An executive summary for managers can be found at
the end of this article.
Despite the popularity of web-based retailing and its virtues in
popular media (Greenspan, 2003), doubts have been raised as
to whether it is suitable for all types of products or services
(Pandya and Dholakia, 2005; Schwartz, 2002). Trade
statistics indicate that while services such as travel, tourism,
financial services, and music seem to be flourishing on the
internet, the more tangible products such as groceries,
clothing, etc. have not performed as well (Halpern, 2004;
Heung, 2003). For example, by 2009, travel sales bought
online are expected to grow and reach a total volume of $91
billion or 33 percent of all travel services purchased during the
year (McGann, 2004a, b; Werthner and Ricci, 2004).
Financial services have also been impacted in a significant
manner by e-commerce (Hughes and Stone, 2002; Taylor,
2002). Likewise, web-based entertainment services (e.g.
online gaming) are poised for explosive growth (Greenspan,
2004). Why do services like travel and tourism do well in a
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virtual shopping environment whereas more tangible products
do not? Is it possible that consumers see a natural affinity
between services that are inherently intangible and the online
shopping environment, which is virtual and non-tangible?
Could it also be possible that perceived congruence between
shopping mode and service category is associated with
different consumer shopping motivation factors? This study
explores these questions by linking consumers’ shopping
motivation with the perceived congruence between service
category and shopping mode (bricks and mortar versus online
outlets).
The current investigation relies on the rich literature
pertaining to consumer shopping motivation (e.g. Rohm and
Swaminathan, 2004; Babin et al., 2003; Lesser and Kamal,
1991; Nicholls et al., 2002; Dawson et al., 1990; Hibbert and
Tagg, 2001; Alba et al., 1997; Burke, 1996, 1997; Childers
et al., 2001; Deighton, 1997; Grenberg, 2000; Hoffman and
Novak, 1996; Katz and Aspden, 1997; Koufaris et al., 2001-
2002; Shim et al., 2000; Peterson et al., 1997; Wolfinbarger
and Gilly, 2001). While the traditional retailing literature and
the related knowledge base is rich, the same cannot be said
about the online literature, especially that pertaining to
services marketed online. Many studies have investigated the
online versus brick and mortar retailing of products –
examples of more recent studies are Burke (2002),

Journal of Services Marketing

21/3 (2007) 200– 212 Received: April 2005
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 0887-6045] Revised: October 2005
[DOI 10.1108/08876040710746552] Accepted: November 2005

200
 Services purchased at brick and mortar versus online stores
Rajasree K. Rajamma, Audhesh K. Paswan and Gopala Ganesh
Evanschitzky et al. (2004), Gounaris and Dimitriadis (2003),
Iqbal et al. (2003), Javalgi et al. (2004), Reibstein (2002) and
Sweeney and Lapp (2004). However, very few have
investigated the marketing of services over the internet
versus through bricks and mortar outlets (Ekeledo and
Sivakumar, 2004; Tsikriktsis et al., 2004; Zinkhan, 2002.)
The investigation of marketing of services over the internet
or bricks and mortar outlets is critical because of the inherent
contradictions. The suggested advantages of e-tailing are that
it is cheaper, more convenient, provides larger selection,
quicker transactions, reduces processing errors, protects
consumer anonymity, and results in savings for consumers
(Buford, n.d.) Likewise, some of the perceived disadvantages
of e-tailing are security fears, delayed gratification, lack of
return policies, lower rate of order placement,
impersonalization of shopping, and lack of customer service.
However, if consumers are not enamored by the benefits
associated with online outlets, they avoid the internet,
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preferring instead to shop at traditional outlets. Similarly,
one could argue that certain purchases are inherently
experiential – for example, one needs to touch the fabric
and smell the fruit. Other purchases are more intangible and
have little search quality associated with them. One could
argue that consumers driven by different shopping
motivations associate different purchase types with different
shopping modes (online versus bricks and mortar). These
arguments form the basis for this study. We next examine the
current literature, formulate hypotheses, and move on to the
research method, results, discussion, and implications.
Literature review
We first examine the notion of congruency between purchase
type (i.e. service or product) and retail store type (i.e. online
versus bricks and mortar). The notion of congruence between
retail store image and product image has been investigated in
the retailing literature (cf. Semeijn et al., 2004; Sen et al.,
2002; Garton, 1995; Hite and Bellizzi, 1985; Samli, 1989, to
name just a few). These studies suggest that consumers’
perception of store image and product image are closely
related to one another, and this relationship or congruence is
positively associated with their self image and brand loyalty
towards the store. A similar thought capturing the notion of
harmony between our self-image and everything we own has
been suggested in consumer behavior literature and is called
the Diderot effect or Diderot unity (cf. Diderot, 1964;
McCracken, 1988). We use this notion of congruence, i.e. the
match between attributes associated with the outlet type
(online versus bricks and mortar) and purchase type (service
versus more tangible product) to speculate that services are
likely to be perceived to be more congruent with online
outlets and products with bricks and mortar outlets.
Bricks and mortar outlets are perceived as more tangible,
since they typically have a physical location, a building that
shoppers can visit, and have all the attached sensory cues as
well. In comparison, online outlets are by definition, virtual.
As far as consumers are concerned, there may not even be a
physical location, distances do not matter, and they are
interacting with a machine and not a human being
(Evanschitzky et al., 2004; Ekeledo and Sivakumar, 2004;
Iqbal et al., 2003). When we examine the purchase types,
services tend to exhibit attributes similar to online outlets, i.e.
intangibility, low on search quality, high on experience and
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Journal of Services Marketing
Volume 21 · Number 3 · 2007 · 200 –212
credence quality (Lovelock, 1983, 1996; Zeithaml, 1981;
Zeithaml et al., 1993). For instance, Werthner and Ricci
(2004) classify the travel and tourism service as an
information-based business and its product as a confidence
good (p. 102), making it relatively easy to market online. At
the other end of the scale, tangible products such as clothes,
grocery items, shoes, etc., although relatively standardized in
terms of shapes and sizes, exhibit a certain tactile orientation
in their purchase. Consumers need to be able to “touch it, feel
it, and often wear it” to make the final purchase decision. This
makes it more difficult to market such products over the
internet because online retailing lacks the tactile features
(Lindstrom, 2001). These arguments help propose our first
hypothesis:
H1. Services are likely to be perceived as more congruent
with online buying, while more tangible products are
seen as congruent with brick and mortar stores.
We next focus on the consumer’s motivation for selecting one
or the other shopping outlet type (online versus bricks and
mortar) and how these link with the consumer’s perceptions
of congruency between purchase type (service versus product)
and retail type (online versus bricks and mortar). For this we
rely on the literature on traditional retailing and e-tailing (cf.
Bellenger and Korgaonkar, 1980; Rohm and Swaminathan,
2004; Babin et al., 2003; Lesser and Kamal, 1991;
Nicholls et al., 2002; Dawson et al., 1990; Hibbert and Tagg,
2001), e-commerce in general, and services marketing over
the internet (cf., Alba et al., 1997; Burke, 2002; Evanschitzky
et al., 2004; Iqbal et al., 2003; Lee and Overby, 2004; Shankar
et al., 2003) for a theoretical foundation.
The fundamental reason for shopping is to buy the product
or the service, and this is guided by factors such as availability,
quality and variety of merchandise. We collectively label these
key dimensions that drive shopping process as “merchandise
motivation” in this study. Most would agree that bricks and
mortar stores have traditionally enjoyed an advantageous
position on the merchandise dimension, i.e. products and
services are available for immediate possession, and
consumers can easily see the quality and variety of
merchandise on display (McAlister and Pessemier, 1982;
Menon and Kahn, 1995.) The proponents of e-commerce
suggest that once you get on the internet you will find the
product you want and there is sufficient variety to choose
from. Rohm and Swaminathan (2004) posit that the ability to
do comparison shopping online increases consumers’ variety
seeking behavior. However, recent holiday shopping has left
some e-commerce shoppers very unhappy about the variety
and availability aspect (McGann, 2004a, b). It took forever to
get the goods/brand they wanted. In addition, online retailing
suffers from one inherent problem – consumers cannot
immediately posses the purchased product or service. If
e-commerce is supposed to create efficiencies for the
customers, not having a product available immediately
compromises this by reducing the time utility. And when
the product is not delivered in time, variety too becomes a
non-issue. While merchandise motivation may be crucial for
consumers buying tangible products, it may not hold true for
services, because services tend to be more information-
oriented (Werthner and Ricci, 2004). This leads us to propose
that consumers preferring online or bricks and mortar stores
for services would not differ in the importance attached to
merchandise motivation dimensions. On the other hand, for
 Services purchased at brick and mortar versus online stores
Rajasree K. Rajamma, Audhesh K. Paswan and Gopala Ganesh
more tangible products, merchandise motivation would be
more important for consumers who prefer bricks and mortar
stores. Similar thoughts have been voiced by Lee and Overby
(2004).
H2a. For services, consumers preferring online store and
brick and mortar will not differ in perceived
importance of merchandise motivation.
H2b. For tangible products, consumers preferring brick and
mortar will allocate higher importance to merchandise
motivation than consumers preferring online stores.
The notion of assurance is another key motivator and it
captures dimensions such as confidentiality, shopping
security, complaint resolution, solution to problems,
warranties, interaction with the seller, and customer service
(Bitner, 1992; Kotler, 1973-1974; Solomon et al., 1985;
Crosby and Stephens, 1987; Crosby et al., 1990; Berry and
Gresham, 1986; Westbrook, 1981). Traditionally, bricks and
mortar outlets have been associated with these dimensions of
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assurance motivation due to their more tangible nature and
the presence of human interaction. One can speculate that in
a traditional retail store, there is greater chance of retail
personnel meeting customers face to face and therefore of
establishing a human rapport. This is likely to lead to a certain
sense of permanence and a feeling of security in the minds of
customers (Solomon et al., 1985; Crosby and Stephens, 1987;
Crosby et al., 1990; Berry and Gresham, 1986; Westbrook,
1981). In contrast, online stores have been perceived to be
lacking in the assurance dimensions, either based on real
experience or hearsay. Realizing the importance of the human
element in customer service, more and more online retailers
are depending on electronic means such as online real-time
chatting with service representatives, 1-800 numbers that are
answered 24 hours a day by customer service representatives,
and even virtual representatives such as “Aunt Ethel” and
“Billy Buyer” (Mottl, 2000a, b). While we are not too sure
how successful these attempts have been in creating a sense of
assurance, issues such as transaction security, interaction, and
confidentiality have been explored by existing studies (e.g.
Lee and Overby, 2004; Evanschitzky et al., 2004; Alba et al.,
1997; Dembeck, 1999; Grenberg, 2000; Hoffman and
Novak, 1996; Peterson et al., 1997). Here, we argue that
consumers who prefer bricks and mortar stores for either
product or service would attach higher levels of importance to
assurance motivation dimensions:
H3a. For services, consumers preferring bricks and mortar
outlets will perceive assurance motivation to be more
important than consumers preferring online outlets.
H3b. For tangible products, consumers preferring bricks and
mortar outlets will perceive assurance motivation to be
more important than consumers preferring online
outlets.
The literature has also identified the convenience dimension
as a key motivator for selecting a retail type (e.g. Lee and
Overby, 2004; Evanschitzky et al., 2004; Alba et al., 1997;
Grenberg, 2000; Hoffman and Novak, 1996) and have
associated online retailing with it (Burke, 2002; Evanschitzky
et al., 2004; Lee and Overby, 2004). We argue that while
convenience is important, an equally important dimension is
hassle reduction motivation. In other words, while shopping
for anything, we want to do it in a manner that is relatively
trouble free. While shopping on the internet may be more
convenient in terms of not having to change into street clothes
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Journal of Services Marketing
Volume 21 · Number 3 · 2007 · 200 –212
or drive to a store, going to that store might in fact be less of a
hassle because, once the purchase is made, the matter is
settled. The consumer does not have to bother about when it
will arrive, did the transaction go through, etc. The hassle
reduction dimension used in this study includes elements
such as stress-free and easy shopping, hassles such as parking,
crowds, time required for shopping, shopping close to home,
store variety at one location, and transportation. We propose
that consumers preferring to shop at a bricks and mortar store
will attach higher levels of importance to the hassle reduction
motivation dimension:
H4a. For services, consumers preferring brick and mortar
outlets will perceive hassle reduction motivation to be
more important than consumers preferring online
outlets.
H4b. For tangible products, consumers preferring brick and
mortar outlets will perceive hassle reduction motivation
to be more important than consumers preferring
online outlets.
Enjoyment as a motivation for shopping has been well
investigated in the retailing literature (e.g. Bitner, 1992;
Burke, 2002; Lee and Overby, 2004; Evanschitzky et al.,
2004; Alba et al., 1997; Hoffman and Novak, 1996). Based on
these studies, we argue that while the internet may be a fun
place to shop, it is not likely to compare very favorably with
the experience associated with bricks and mortar store
(Arnold and Reynolds, 1997; Hibbert and Tagg, 2001;
Kotler, 1973-1974; Rohm and Swaminathan, 2004). Thus,
we propose that consumers preferring bricks and mortar store
are likely to score high on shopping enjoyment motivation:
H5a. For services, consumers preferring brick and mortar
outlets will perceive enjoyment motivation to be more
important than consumers preferring online outlets.
H5b. For tangible products, consumers preferring brick and
mortar outlets will perceive enjoyment motivation to be
more important than consumers preferring online
outlets.
Three of the advantages reported for electronic retailing are:
1 attractive prices;
2 convenience of shopping; and
3 ability to do comparison shopping (Burke, 2002;
Evanschitzky et al., 2004; Lee and Overby, 2004).
It is an accepted idea that consumers shop around to get the best
deal. They compare prices, quality, delivery, discount offered,
etc. The internet allows consumers to do innumerable such
comparisons with just a click of a mouse (Alba et al., 1997;
Shankar et al., 2003). Since search costs in an online
environment are much less than in an offline context, it
becomes easier and cost effective for the consumer to engage in
comparisons (Nelson, 1974; Stigler, 1961; Jensen et al., 2003).
One could also argue that consumers who like shopping at
bricks and mortar stores do so because the stores do fulfill these
pragmatic expectations. Some of the reasons behind such a
feeling could be that coupons and advertising pullouts in
newspapers provide consumers with lots of information for
comparison-shopping. Bricks and mortar stores are often
located in proximate clusters, enhancing the convenience aspect
and facilitating comparison-shopping, while intense
competition amongst such retailers results in attractive prices.
Using another example, consumers who associate travel
services with the internet would find it very pragmatic to shop
 Services purchased at brick and mortar versus online stores
Rajasree K. Rajamma, Audhesh K. Paswan and Gopala Ganesh
for travel services online. However, consumers who like to use
travel agencies or real storefronts for travel services would
actually find travel agencies more practical. These factors (e.g.
attractive prices, shopping convenience, and comparison
shopping) together will be labeled as “pragmatic motivation”,
and based on the existing literature and arguments presented
here, we propose that both online stores and bricks and mortar
stores will be seen as equally pragmatic by consumers who
associate a particular service or product with a particular store
type:
H6a. For services, consumers preferring brick and mortar
and online outlets will not differ in perceived
importance of pragmatic motivation.
H6b. For tangible products, consumers preferring brick and
mortar and online outlets will not differ in perceived
importance of pragmatic motivation.
The last motivation dimension explored in this study is the
responsiveness dimension and includes elements such as
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delivery at home, timely delivery, and ability to contact the
seller. Levitt (1983) finds that retailers must have constructive
interactions with consumers in order to keep them happy and
to foster a fruitful relationship. This, he states, is especially
important in the case of complex products. Online customer
service has long been limited in prompt delivery of goods,
while being well known for prompt replies to e-mail queries by
customers and generally ensuring smooth transactions. While
the human element is currently absent in online customer
service, this is changing somewhat with the increasing
popularity of clicks and mortar stores (e.g. Alba et al., 1997;
Deighton, 1997; Dembeck, 1999; Grenberg, 2000; Hoffman
and Novak, 1996; Peterson et al., 1997). In any case, whether
consumers prefer bricks and mortar or online outlets, they are
likely to expect the same level of responsiveness from their
retail outlet:
H7a. For services, consumers preferring brick and mortar
and online outlets will not differ in perceived
importance of responsiveness motivation.
H7b. For tangible products, consumers preferring brick and
mortar and outlets will not differ in perceived
importance of responsiveness motivation.
Method and results
Data for this study were collected using a self-administered
mail survey. A sample of 2,500 households was drawn
randomly from two zip code clusters of a major metro area.
The only screening criteria was that the households must be
internet-enabled to ensure that the respondents are able to
respond to questions pertaining to both internet and bricks-
and-mortar shopping behavior. The geographical restriction
was deliberate and was intended to boost response, given the
name recognition enjoyed by the authors’ university in this
part of the country. This strategy apparently worked, since
689 or 28 percent responded to a single mailing of the survey.
Non-response error was assessed by comparing early and late
respondents to late respondents on several key characteristics
(Malhotra, 2004, p. 357). These included the six consumer
motivation dimensions that were compared using ANOVA
and then the seven shopping mode congruence
categorizations using x2. All of these comparisons were
insignificant at p , 0:05. In addition, the early versus late
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Journal of Services Marketing
Volume 21 · Number 3 · 2007 · 200 –212
respondents were also compared on age, gender, HH income,
number of products bought on the internet, and their overall
opinion about e-commerce, and even these were found to be
insignificant at p , 0:05. These provide assurance that there
is no serious non-response bias in the data.
The socio-economic profile of the respondents is as follows:
62 percent are female with an average and median age of 49
years; 52 percent have a college degree, while 86 percent
spent at least some time in college; 80 percent are currently
married and 93 percent have been living in a single family
home for the past 13 years; nearly 35 percent report a child
(, 18 years) living at home with them; and the median
income of the sample is between $60,000 and $69,999. The
survey also provides detailed insights into surfing-related
characteristics of the sample. They spend an average of ten
hours a week online (median of six hours) with e-mail (44
percent) as the most popular activity. Sixty percent connect to
the internet at speeds of 56k or slower, while a quarter report
a high-speed connection. Significant numbers of respondents
view themselves as experienced surfers (48 percent), shoppers
(31 percent) and report either applying for or considering
getting a high-speed connection (44 percent).
In addition to the above demographics, the respondents
were asked whether they had bought or browsed online for
each of 46 items, reflecting a broad spectrum of consumer
products and services. Nearly 79 percent of the respondents
had browsed for an average of seven products, while 71
percent report buying, with a median of three products. Mean
($1,176) self-reported annual expenditure online, while much
lower than for brick and mortar stores ($11,601), does
compare favorably with other forms of non-store shopping
such as print catalogs ($384), cable TV shopping channel
($78) and tele-marketing ($29). These figures seem to be in
line with industry figures (such as the ones found through
CyberAtlas.com). Based on the survey data for the 46 items,
the most browsed product categories are airline tickets (49
percent), automobiles for purchase (42 percent), hotel
reservations (39 percent), books (34 percent) and home
electronics (34 percent). The products most bought are:
airline tickets (37 percent), books (36 percent), hotel
reservations (29 percent), Christmas gifts (26 percent) and
software (25 percent). Clearly, online activity, while
significant, is not yet dominant.
In order to measure consumer motivation for selecting a
shopping mode, the respondents were asked to indicate the
importance of 27 motivating characteristics for shopping,
culled from the existing literature (for both bricks and mortar
and online stores) on shopping motivation. These items
capture the shopping motivations described earlier. The
responses were measured on a five-point semantic differential
scale anchored between very important (1) and not important
(5), and the question was “In determining where you shop, how
important are these to you?”. The data pertaining to this
question was first factor analyzed and the results are
presented in Table I. The KMO measure of sampling
adequacy was 0.886, and the Bartlett’s test of sphericity was
significant (approximate x2 ¼ 5559:2 and p ¼ 0:000). These
indicate appropriateness of the data from this study for factor
analysis (Hair et al., 1998, p. 99). The factor analysis results
confirmed the motivations dimensions described in the
literature review section. Two items (“shopping security”
and “transportation to and from store”) reported factor
loadings of less than 0.50. However, we decided to retain
 Services purchased at brick and mortar versus online stores Journal of Services Marketing
Rajasree K. Rajamma, Audhesh K. Paswan and Gopala Ganesh Volume 21 · Number 3 · 2007 · 200 –212

Table I Principal component analyses – consumer motivation for shopping mode selection
F-1 F-2 F-3 F-4 F-5 F-6 Factor labels
Q02O Merchandise: general availability 0.808 Merchandise
Q02P Merchandise: seasonal availability 0.741
Q02Q Merchandise: reassurance of quality 0.737
Q02S Merchandise: variety 0.647
Q02F Confidentiality of shopping 0.61 Assurance
Q02A Ability to interact with seller 0.584
Q02E Complaint resolution 0.528
Q02H Customer service 0.422 0.516
Q02AC Warranties, ability to fix problems 0.506
Q02V Shopping security 0.493
Q02Y Stress free, easy shopping: parking, crowds, etc. 0.686 Hassle reduction
Q02Z Time required for shopping 0.683
Q02T Shopping close to home 0.657
Q02X Store variety at one location 0.524
Q02AB Transportation to and from store 0.472
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Q02K Fun of shopping 0.725 Enjoyment

Q02W shopping with friends/family 0.655
Q02L Going through search process 0.629
Q02N Impulsive shopping 0.574
Q02U Shopping environment 0.54
Q02D Comparison shopping 0.725 Pragmatism
Q02B Attractive prices 0.64
Q02C Choice of brands 0.588
Q02M Info on what is available 0.55
Q02J Delivery to home 0.756 Responsiveness
Q02AA Timely delivery 0.72
Q02G Contact seller: phone/e-mail 0.549
Percentage of variance explained (total 5 55:77) 11.71 9.38 9.13 8.8 8.56 8.18
Alpha score 0.83 0.74 0.68 0.69 0.71 0.64
Factor mean 1.833 1.971 2.216 2.828 1.793 2.591
Factor SD 0.582 0.600 0.622 0.713 0.553 0.873
Note: Scale range: 1 ¼ very important, 5 ¼ not important

these items in our subsequent analysis because they fitted in
with the other items in their respective factors and added to
the domain of the construct (ensuring construct and content
validity). In addition, eliminating these items did not yield a
better alpha score or higher percentage of variance explained.
Moreover, Hair et al. (1998, p. 111) suggest “all loadings of
0.30” as having “practical significance”. All factors in our
study met this threshold and were tested for internal
consistency using Cronbach’s alpha, and convergent as well
as discriminant validity using inter-item correlation (see
Appendix). The alpha scores for all the factors were above
acceptable range and the inter-item correlation indicate
acceptable levels of convergent and discriminant validity.
In order to measure the congruence between purchase type
and retail type (online or bricks and mortar), respondents
were asked which method of shopping is better for several
services and products on a five-point semantic differential
scale, anchored between bricks and mortar outlets (1) and
online outlets (5). On an overall basis, the bricks and mortar
outlets were the clear winner, with 61 percent of the
respondent in favor of them versus 24 percent for the cyber
variety. This finding is reinforced by data for the individual
service and products. Only four purchase types, all services
(airline tickets, hotel reservations, travel arrangements, and
stock quotes), were perceived as better bought online. We
wanted next to investigate whether consumers see some of
these products and services as complementary to one another.
Using a simple factor analysis we found this to be the case.
The groupings for services are as follows:
. travel-related service (hotel reservation, travel
arrangement, airlines tickets, and automobile rental);
.
entertainment services (restaurant reservations, movie
tickets, and concert and play tickets);
.
financial services (banking and financial services,
brokerage, and stock quotes); and
.
real estate and legal (RELI) services (real estate, legal
service, and insurance).
For more tangible goods, the groupings are as follows:
.
entertainment electronics products (movie purchase,
music CDs and tapes, video games, and movie rental);
.
functional products (formal and casual clothing and
shoes, footwear, and furniture); and
.
grocery products (generic and branded grocery, fast-food
and other food delivery).
The groupings of these products and/or services were found
to be internally consistent (all the alpha scores were above 0.7,

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Rajasree K. Rajamma, Audhesh K. Paswan and Gopala Ganesh Volume 21 · Number 3 · 2007 · 200 –212

except for the real estate and legal services group, which had
an alpha score of 0.63). The results indicate that consumers
do group different products and services into different
complementary baskets based on their congruence with
either bricks and mortar or virtual outlets.
The scores for each service or product within each basket or
group (measuring the extent to which they are seen as more
suitable for online or bricks and mortar stores) were next
averaged to create an overall score for each basket of service or
goods. These composite scores, which represent consumers’
perceptions of whether a particular basket is seen as more
suitable for online stores (closer to 5) or brick and mortar
store (closer to 1), were compared with one another using
pair-wise t-tests (see Table II). The results indicate that the
average scores for the service baskets are statistically different
from one another, except for entertainment services (2.449)
and entertainment electronic products (2.405). Travel
services (3.454) were seen as most suitable for online stores,
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For the merchandise motivation dimension, for all service
baskets, the online group and the bricks and mortar group do
not differ from one another. This provides support for H2a.
In contrast, for the two tangible product baskets of
entertainment electronics products and functional products
(E and F), the bricks and mortar group scores higher on the
merchandise motivation dimension than the online group. For
grocery products (G), there is no difference. This provides
some support for H2b.
For the assurance motivation dimension, for all service
baskets, the brick and mortar group scored higher than the
online group. A similar scenario was observed for all tangible
product categories. This provides support for H3a and H3b.
For the hassle reduction motivation dimension, the bricks
and mortar group scored higher than the online group for
some of the service and product baskets, i.e. entertainment
services, financial services, entertainment electronic products,
and functional products. However, the two groups did not

followed by financial services (2.674), entertainment services
(2.449), and the RELI services (1.685). The more tangible
goods, on the other hand, were seen as more suitable for
bricks and mortar stores. Within the product groups,
entertainment electronic products (2.405, statistically similar
to entertainment services) were seen as least suitable for
bricks and mortar stores. Functional products (1.377) and
grocery products (1.341) were both seen as equally suitable
for bricks and mortar stores. This provide support for the first
proposition, indicating that consumers do see a congruence
between purchase type (service or product) and retail store
type (online versus brick and mortar) with services seen as
more congruent with online buying, and tangible goods with
brick and mortar stores.
The scores for products and services within each individual
basket were next used to cluster respondents into online
versus bricks and mortar store congruence groups (for that
particular basket). The resultant seven set of clusters (for
travel related services, entertainment services, financial
services, RELI services, entertainment electronics products,
functional products, and grocery products) were next used for
repetitive testing of the remaining hypotheses (H2-H7) using
ANOVA and discriminant analysis. The results of these
analyses for service categories are presented in Table III
(A-D) and for product categories in Table IV (E-G).
differ for travel-related, RELI, and grocery baskets. This
provides some support for H4a and H4b.
For the enjoyment motivation dimension, the brick and
mortar group scored significantly higher than the online
group for all service and product baskets, except for RELI and
groceries, where the two groups did not differ significantly.
This provides some support for H5a and H5b.
For the pragmatic motivation dimension, the bricks and
mortar group did not differ from the online group for all but
one of the service and product baskets. The exception was the
RELI basket, where the bricks and mortar group scored
higher than the online group. This provides support for H6a
and H6b.
Finally, for the responsiveness motivation dimension, the
bricks and mortar group did not differ from the online group
for all service and product categories, except for travel-related
services. For travel services, the online group scored higher on
importance attached to the responsiveness dimension than the
brick and mortar group. This provides substantial support for
H7a and H7b.
Discussion
The results in Table I indicate that consumer motivation for
retail outlet selection is multidimensional, manifesting here as
the factors of merchandise, assurance, hassle reduction,

Table II Service or product groups and consumer perception of their congruence with retail type (online versus bricks and mortar)
n Mean SD Skewness Kurtosis
statistic statistic statistic statistic statistic
Travel and tourism services: hotel, travel, airline, and auto rental services 661 3.454 1.323 20.498 20.950
Financial services: banking, financial, brokerage, and stock quotes services 657 2.674 1.301 0.344 20.957
Entertainment services: movie tickets, concert and play tickets, restaurant reservation
services 633 2.449 1.188 0.395 20.731
RELI services: real estate, legal, and insurance services 645 1.685 0.873 1.130 0.480
Entertainment electronic products/services: movie purchase and rental, video games,
music CDs, tapes, etc. 640 2.405 1.191 0.393 20.864
Functional products: clothes, shoes, and furniture products 664 1.377 0.758 2.437 6.232
Grocery products: grocery and food products 653 1.341 0.745 2.615 7.109
Notes: Pair-wise (t-test) comparisons indicate that most pairs were significantly different at p , 0:05; two exceptions were entertainment services and
entertainment electronic products/services (p ¼ 0:102), and functional and grocery products (p ¼ 0:802). Scale range: 1 ¼ bricks and mortar store is much
better, 5 ¼ online store is much better

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Table III Service basket: shopping mode congruence and consumer motivation for selecting a shopping mode (online versus bricks and mortar store)
Bricks and
Online mortar
Independent variable Mean SD Mean SD ANOVA p value Structural matrix Discriminant analysis results
A. Service basket – travel related service (hotel, travel, airlines, auto rental, etc.)
Merchandise 1.87 0.53 1.80 0.63 0.19 0.23 Wilks’ lambda p value ¼ 0:00
Assurance 2.04 0.61 1.91 0.57 0.02 0.44 Box’s M p value ¼ 0.004
Hassle reduction 2.25 0.60 2.18 0.63 0.18 0.24 Hit ratio:
Enjoyment 2.93 0.72 2.70 0.71 0.00 0.63 65.2 percent in the original group
Pragmatism 1.80 0.53 1.82 0.61 0.76 20.06 64.1 percent in the holdout group
Responsiveness 2.54 0.87 2.69 0.86 0.04 20.36
Distribution (percent) 63.5 36.5

B. Service basket – entertainment services (restaurants, movies tickets, concert tickets, etc.)
Merchandise 1.83 0.56 1.81 0.57 0.65 0.11 Wilks’ lambda p value ¼ 0:009
Assurance 2.01 0.58 1.93 0.58 0.07 0.43 Box’s M p value ¼ 0:055
Hassle reduction 2.27 0.59 2.16 0.62 0.03 0.54 Hit ratio:
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Enjoyment 2.89 0.69 2.75 0.74 0.02 0.56 58.6 percent in the original group
Pragmatism 1.82 0.55 1.78 0.54 0.44 0.19 56.4 percent in the holdout group
Responsiveness 2.53 0.88 2.65 0.87 0.11 20.39
Distribution (percent) 45.5 54.5

C. Service basket – financial services (banking, financial, brokerage, stock quotes)

Merchandise 1.87 0.54 1.80 0.61 0.18 0.18 Wilks’ lambda p value ¼ 0:000
Assurance 2.10 0.62 1.89 0.58 0.00 0.57 Box’s M p value ¼ 0:13
Hassle reduction 2.30 0.61 2.14 0.61 0.00 0.43 Hit ratio:
Enjoyment 3.00 0.74 2.71 0.69 0.00 0.66 61.9 percent in the original group
Pragmatism 1.83 0.53 1.79 0.57 0.44 0.11 61.0 percent in the holdout group
Responsiveness 2.53 0.84 2.64 0.89 0.12 20.22
Distribution (percent) 46.9 53.1

D. Service basket – legal, real-estate, and insurance (RELI) services

Merchandise 1.85 0.58 1.82 0.57 0.61 0.12 Wilks’ lambda p value ¼ 0:007
Assurance 2.09 0.63 1.92 0.57 0.00 0.79 Box’s M p value ¼ 0:075
Hassle reduction 2.26 0.63 2.19 0.61 0.22 0.29 Hit ratio:
Enjoyment 2.92 0.72 2.80 0.72 0.07 0.43 66.5 percent in the original group
Pragmatism 1.89 0.59 1.75 0.52 0.00 0.67 65.3 percent in the holdout group
Responsiveness 2.64 0.94 2.56 0.84 0.32 0.24
Distribution (percent) 34.4 65.6
Note: Scale range: 1 ¼ very important, 5 ¼ not important

enjoyment, pragmatism, and responsiveness. Even though the
percentage of variance explained is only about 56 percent, the
factors make intuitive sense and have significant implications
for retail (brick and mortar or online) managers. This finding
is corroborated by the existing literature on shopping
motivation (e.g. Dawson et al., 1990; Evanschitzky et al.,
2004; Lee and Overby, 2004; Rohm and Swaminathan, 2004;
Lesser and Kamal, 1991; Nicholls et al., 2002). The grouping
of products and services, i.e. baskets, although not
hypothesized, is also interesting. It tells us that consumers
do bundle services and tangible goods into complementary
baskets.
The pair-wise comparison of congruence (between service
or product baskets and retail types) indicates that consumers
associate services with the online shopping mode and more
tangible products with the bricks and mortar outlets. This
provides some support for the congruence perspective (cf.
Garton, 1995; Samli, 1989), as well as for the assertion made
by Werthner and Ricci (2004) that travel and tourism and
financial services constitute information-based services and
that is one reason why these are doing rather well on the
internet.
The results from the ANOVA and discriminant analyses
provide good support for our last five sets of hypotheses. The
results suggest that services and tangible goods are similar in
some respects and different in others. However, these
similarities and differences are not just across service and
goods baskets, but also within individual service and good
baskets. In other words, not all motivation dimensions are
equally important for all consumers across different service
and product baskets. For all tangible goods (entertainment
electronics, functional products, and grocery products) the
online and brick and mortar groups did not differ on the
pragmatism and responsiveness motivation dimensions. In

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Rajasree K. Rajamma, Audhesh K. Paswan and Gopala Ganesh Volume 21 · Number 3 · 2007 · 200 –212

Table IV Tangible product basket – shopping mode congruence and consumer motivation for selecting a shopping mode (online versus bricks and
mortar store)
Bricks and
Online mortar store
Mean SD Mean SD ANOVA p value Structural matrix Discriminant analysis results
E. Product basket – entertainment electronics products (movies, CDs, tapes, video games, etc.)
Merchandise 1.88 0.55 1.78 0.59 0.03 0.38 Wilks’ lambda p value ¼ 0:00
Assurance 2.09 0.59 1.89 0.59 0.00 0.71 Box’s M p value ¼ 0:085
Hassle reduction 2.28 0.63 2.15 0.59 0.01 0.45 Hit ratio:
Enjoyment 2.89 0.70 2.77 0.73 0.04 0.37 59.4 percent in the original group
Pragmatism 1.84 0.52 1.77 0.56 0.14 0.26 58.0 percent in the holdout group
Responsiveness 2.55 0.87 2.66 0.88 0.13 20.28
Distribution (percent) 47.0 53.0

F. Product basket – functional products (clothes, shoes, furniture, etc.)

Merchandise 1.92 0.58 1.79 0.57 0.01 0.42 Wilks’ lambda p value ¼ 0:00
Assurance 2.10 0.61 1.93 0.58 0.00 0.55 Box’s M p value ¼ 0:263
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Hassle reduction 2.37 0.62 2.16 0.60 0.00 0.66 Hit ratio:
Enjoyment 2.93 0.75 2.78 0.71 0.03 0.36 71.8 percent in the original group
Pragmatism 1.82 0.59 1.79 0.53 0.47 0.12 71.5 percent in the holdout group
Responsiveness 2.50 0.87 2.63 0.86 0.11 20.27
Distribution (percent) 28.1 71.9

G. Product basket – grocery products (generic and branded grocery, fast food delivery)
Merchandise 1.85 0.58 1.82 0.58 0.57 0.22 Wilks’ lambda p value ¼ 0:321
Assurance 2.06 0.61 1.96 0.60 0.09 0.65 Box’s M p value ¼ 0:409
Hassle reduction 2.27 0.60 2.19 0.63 0.19 0.49 Hit ratio:
Enjoyment 2.93 0.71 2.80 0.73 0.06 0.71 76.6 percent in the original group
Pragmatism 1.83 0.55 1.79 0.56 0.45 0.28 76.6 percent in the holdout group
Responsiveness 2.57 0.97 2.61 0.84 0.69 20.15
Distribution (percent) 23.4 76.6
Note: Scale range: 1 ¼ very important; 5 ¼ not important

contrast, for service purchases, only entertainment services
and financial services exhibit such a lack of difference between
two groups on these two dimensions. The online and bricks
and mortar groups do not show any difference on the
pragmatism dimension for travel services, and on the
responsive dimension for RELI services. In comparison, the
online shoppers of travel services associated a higher level of
importance to the responsiveness dimensions and the bricks
and mortar group attached a higher importance to the
pragmatism dimension. The online group and bricks and
mortar groups differ on the assurance and enjoyment
motivation dimensions for all the service and goods
purchase categories. This suggests that, in general,
consumers who prefer to shop at a bricks and mortar store
attach a higher importance to the assurance and enjoyment
aspects of shopping in comparison to consumers who feel
comfortable purchasing on the internet. On the merchandise
motivation dimension, for services, both online and bricks
and mortar group had similar scores; however, for tangible
goods, the bricks and mortar group scored higher than the
online group, except for grocery products. This suggests that
service consumers generally expect the same level of
merchandise mix (availability, quality and variety)
irrespective of where they purchase the service from –
bricks and mortar or online store. However, for tangible
goods, consumers preferring bricks and mortar stores attach
higher importance to the merchandise mix, at least for
entertainment electronic and functional goods. Finally, the
bricks and mortar consumers attached a higher importance
(than online consumers) to the hassle reduction dimension for
entertainment services, financial services, entertainment
electronics, and functional product baskets. They did not
differ on this dimension for travel services, RELI services, and
grocery baskets.
Viewed from a slightly different perspective, the results also
provide motivational profiles of service and product
purchases. For travel related services, bricks and mortar
consumers attached a higher importance to the assurance and
enjoyment motivational dimensions than the bricks and
mortar store group, and a lower importance to
responsiveness. One possible reason could be that travel-
related services are information products (Werthner and
Ricci, 2004) and can be easily purchased on the internet.
However, if someone decides buy it through a bricks and
mortar store then he/she would probably do it because it gives
him/her more assurance and enjoyment. For both financial
and entertainment services, assurance, hassle reduction, and
enjoyment seem to be significant discriminators, with bricks
and mortar customers attaching higher importance to these.
For RELI services, the bricks and mortar consumers attached

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Rajasree K. Rajamma, Audhesh K. Paswan and Gopala Ganesh
a higher importance to assurance, enjoyment, and
pragmatism dimensions than the online consumers. In
summary, for service purchases, the assurance and
enjoyment motivation dimensions are common
discriminators between bricks and mortar and online
groups, with the former attaching a higher importance to
these. Hassle reduction motivator was significant
discriminator for both financial and entertainment services.
Finally, responsiveness was significant for travel-related
services and pragmatism for RELI services. This study
suggests that entertainment services and financial services are
closest in terms of the motivational profile of their bricks and
mortar and online consumers. Similarly, travel-related
services are more similar to RELI services (except for the
pragmatism and responsiveness dimensions) than the other
two focal services. In terms of congruence, a large number of
respondents (64 percent) associate travel services with online
stores. This figure is 47 percent for financial services, 45
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percent for entertainment services, and 35 percent for RELI
services.
In comparison, the motivational profiles of bricks and
mortar and online shoppers for tangible product categories
are slightly different. For both (i.e. entertainment electronics
and functional products), merchandise, assurance, hassle
reduction, and enjoyment motivation factors show a
significant effect, with bricks and mortar consumers
attaching a higher importance to these, whereas the
practicality and responsiveness dimensions do not. These
products – entertainment electronics and functional products
– are experiential and are often bought using discretionary
income. They are quite often bought on impulse and moods,
and returns are not uncommon. Thus, it is not surprising that
merchandise, assurance, hassle reduction, and enjoyment
emerge as significant determinants of the consumer
perception of product-shopping mode congruence.
Interestingly, their motivational profile is somewhat similar
to entertainment electronics and financial services. For
grocery products, we find that none of the shopping
motivation factors (in terms of importance accorded) differ
across the online versus bricks and mortar store clusters
(although assurance and enjoyment have p values of 0.086
and 0.061, respectively). These are staple goods that
consumers buy very frequently, probably for similar reasons
irrespective of the mode of purchase (i.e. bricks and mortar or
online stores). In terms of congruence, 53 percent of the
respondents associate entertainment electronics with bricks
and mortar stores. This figure is 72 percent for functional
items, and 77 percent for grocery products.
Managerial implications
While we have corroborated the well established finding that
consumers perceive services to be more congruent with online
stores and tangible products with bricks and mortar stores,
managers need to go beyond the obvious and try to find what
motivates these consumers to select one shopping mode
versus the other for their service or good purchases. The
results of this study also suggest that consumers tend to group
related services or products into homogeneous shopping
baskets based on their perception of congruence between the
product or service and the shopping mode – online versus
bricks and mortar store. This information should help
managers create a complementary basket of goods or
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Volume 21 · Number 3 · 2007 · 200 –212
services in order to enhance the merchandise and be more
responsive to consumers’ needs.
Finally, the results linking consumer motivation dimensions
and the perceived shopping mode-product/service basket
congruence should help a retail manager plan for retailing mix
strategies, catering to various shopping motivation
dimensions, thus enhancing consumer satisfaction. In
addition, the results also hold important implications in the
areas of segmentation and targeting decisions.
Limitations and research implications
One limitation of this study is its one metro orientation.
Naturally, it needs to be replicated in diverse market
environments. There is a possibility that the two zip code
clusters selected for data collection in this study may have
introduced a systematic bias because people recognize the
author’s university. When we compared the respondents from
these two zip codes, we found that the respondents from one
were relatively more technophile (they were more favorable
towards internet-based shopping) than the respondents from
the other. The technophile sub-group was also younger and
more educated, and had a higher HH income. However, they
were not different in terms of gender and their scores on the
six shopping motivation dimensions. Thus we believe that
while these two zip codes do not represent the entire country,
they do represent most large metropolitan cities. Moreover,
there does not seem to be a systematic bias (i.e. everyone in
the sample leaning one way or the other). We believe that the
sample captures both groups of people – one with positive
opinions about internet shopping and other with not so
positive opinions. Another limitation could be that we may
have missed some shopping motivation dimensions. Future
studies should incorporate additional motivational
dimensions. However, despite these limitations, we strongly
believe that the findings of this study have significant
managerial implications for retail managers of both online
and bricks and mortar stores.
This study makes a contribution by investigating the
relationship between shopping motivation dimensions and the
perceived congruence between services (travel, entertainment,
financial, and RELI) as well as goods (entertainment
electronics, functional products, and grocery products)
baskets and shopping mode, and provides several industry-
specific motivational profiles. The study investigated and
reported on the notion that consumers do in fact group
different services in a complementary basket. We hope that
future studies will investigate these relationships further, in
other service contexts, and bring in additional motivational
constructs into this framework. This may help us avoid the
mistake of trying to sell everything to everyone in their
bedrooms. Online shopping may indeed not be everyone’s cup
of tea.
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 Services purchased at brick and mortar versus online stores Journal of Services Marketing
Rajasree K. Rajamma, Audhesh K. Paswan and Gopala Ganesh Volume 21 · Number 3 · 2007 · 200 –212

Appendix Corresponding author

Gopala Ganesh can be contacted at: ganesh@unt.edu

Table AI Inter-item correlation – consumer motivation for shopping mode selection

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211
 Services purchased at brick and mortar versus online stores
Rajasree K. Rajamma, Audhesh K. Paswan and Gopala Ganesh
Executive summary and implications for
managers and executives
This summary has been provided to allow managers and executives
a rapid appreciation of the content of the article. Those with a
particular interest in the topic covered may then read the article
in toto to take advantage of the more comprehensive description of
the research undertaken and its results to get the full benefit of the
material present.
One of the biggest questions facing marketers is why people
choose to shop via the internet or go to a real store. The
problem is that there are probably as many opinions as there
are websites and high-street shops selling goods and services.
Some might choose a shop simply because they don’t have a
computer. When they do get “online” and become familiar
with the ways of internet shopping, perhaps they will desert
the real shops they were once loyal to. Or maybe they’ll just
do what most people do – both.
Downloaded by Chinese University of Hong Kong At 06:25 30 January 2016 (PT)
Just because you enjoy spending time browsing round real
stores, touching the fruit, feeling the fabrics, trying on the
clothes, chatting to the assistants, having tea or coffee in the
store restaurant, doesn’t mean to say you won’t buy a book or
a holiday online when you get home.
Just because you enjoy the immense and immediate
comparison of prices, goods and services you can find on
the internet and like the feeling of being part of a virtual
shopping environment, doesn’t mean to say you want to buy
all your needs online. You might like the convenience of
ordering with the click of a mouse, but might miss the
immediacy of getting the product straight away as you can in a
shop. While brick-and-mortar shop managements should
always be aware of the expanding power and influence of the
internet sales force, web-based traders should be aware that
online shopping may not be everyone’s cup of tea, and the
many organizations which trade via both virtual and real
stores should avoid the mistake of trying to sell everything to
everyone in their bedrooms.
Despite the complexity – or sheer impossibility – of
answering the question about bricks-and-mortar versus
online, researchers and marketers must at least attempt to
discover what motivates people to choose one or the other,
and for what sort of product or service. Rajasree K. Rajamma,
Audhesh K. Paswan and Gopala Ganesh feel that the
investigation of marketing of services over the internet or
bricks-and-mortar outlets is critical because of the inherent
contradictions.
The suggested advantages of e-tailing are that it is cheaper,
more convenient, provides larger selection, quicker
transactions, reduces processing errors, protects customer
anonymity and results in savings for the consumer. Likewise,
some of the perceived disadvantages of e-tailing are security
fears, delayed gratification, lack of return policies,
impersonalization of shopping, and lack of customer service.
If consumers are not enamoured by the benefits associated
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212
Journal of Services Marketing
Volume 21 · Number 3 · 2007 · 200 –212
with online outlets, they avoid the internet, preferring instead
to shop at traditional outlets.
Their study is based on the argument that consumers
driven by different shopping motivations associate different
purchase types with different shopping modes (online versus
brick-and-mortar). Findings suggest that services are likely to
be perceived as more congruent with online buying, while
more tangible products are seen as congruent with bricks-
and-mortar stores.
For services, both consumers liking brick-and-mortar and
those preferring online were found not to differ in their
perceived importance of factors such as availability, quality
and variety. However, there was only some support for a
hypothesis that, for tangible products, customers preferring
the bricks-and-mortar outlets would allocate a higher
importance to those factors than consumers preferring
online stores.
Traditionally, bricks-and-mortar outlets have been
associated with the notion of “assurance” – such as
confidentiality, shopping security, complaint resolution,
solution to problems, warranties, and customer service –
and support was found for the argument that consumers who
prefer brick-and-mortar stores for either products or services
would attach higher levels of importance to assurance
motivation dimensions.
There was also some support for the assumption that
consumers who prefer to shop at a brick-and-mortar store
attach higher levels of importance than online consumers, to
the “hassle reduction” dimension, which includes elements
such as stress-free and easy shopping. While shopping on the
internet may be more convenient, going to the store might be
less of a hassle because, once the purchase is made, the matter
is settled and there is no concern about when it will arrive or
whether the transaction has gone through.
Unsurprisingly, perhaps, for both services and tangible
products, enjoyment as a motivation for shopping was found
to be somewhat higher among the people who preferred to go
to a brick-and-mortar store.
For both online and brick-and-mortar store enthusiasts,
factors such as attractive prices, shopping convenience, and
comparison shopping were seen as of equal importance.
Substantial support was found for the assumption that both
sets of consumers attached equal importance to the
responsiveness dimension – a factor that includes delivery
at home, timely delivery, and ability to contact the seller.
Rajamma et al. say: “This study also suggests that
consumers tend to group related services or products into
homogenous shopping baskets based on their perception of
congruence between the product or service and the shopping
mode – online versus bricks-and-mortar store”.
(A précis of the article “Services purchased at brick and mortar
versus online stores, and shopping motivation”. Supplied by
Marketing Consultants for Emerald.)
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