Teleshopping or going shopping? An information acquisition perspective

Abstract

Shopping is the acquisition of information that precedes the purchase of goods and services for household or individual consumption. New telecommunications technologies enable individuals to shop and purchase without leaving the home. Teleshopping options put the individual in a choice situation between home-based shopping and store shopping. This involves a trade-off between the costs (in terms of time and money) and benefits of making a trip or of communicating with vendors. Teleshopping serves as a useful case study for examining the demand for videotex-based services and some psychological factors involved in their adoption. Two major factors associated with the benefits of shopping appear to affect that choice. First, the direct experience of multi-sensory stimulation of store or shopping-mall environments is superior in terms of information quality and quantity to that obtained through teleshopping for many products. Thus, teleshopping may not reduce the uncertainty involved in purchasing decision to the extent possible in store shopping and, therefore, may not be a satisfactory substitute. Second, the recreational and psychological gratification (or costs) that many people experience in store shopping activity but which do not exist in teleshopping may affect the adoption of teleshopping. The relative importance of these factors varies across product or service type and individual shopper's preferences.