Web‐shoppers and non‐shoppers: compatibility, relative advantage and demographics

This study investigated differences between Web‐shoppers and non‐shoppers, in terms of compatibility, relative advantage and demographics. Stepwise discriminant analysis was applied on a sample of 165 personally interviewed consumers, which showed that compatibility and relative advantage were overall successful, whereas, demographics were unsuccessful, in distinguishing Web‐shoppers from non‐shoppers. Significant variables included three factors of compatibility (use of direct shopping; use of Web browsing activities at home; and use of Web browsing activities at the office), and two factors of relative advantage (motives; and impediments). Managerial implications for targeting prospective Web‐shoppers and designing better‐grounded consumer Web‐marketing strategies are also discussed, together with study limitations and directions for future research.