Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
The major objective of the study was to investigate how catalog and non-catalog shoppers perceived the risks involved in purchasing apparel from catalogs. The study also investigated catalog and non-catalog shoppers' shopping orientations and their demographic characteristics. The principal components analysis of the data collected from 131 female subjects revealed four types of perceived risks-financial risk, social risk, functional risk, and time risk—plus a Shopping Orientation factor. The results of multivariate and univariate analyses of variance indicated that non-catalog shoppers showed higher levels of risk perceptions of financial, social, functional, and time risks than did the catalog shoppers. However, there was no group difference on shopping orientation. Demographic variables also resulted in no group differences except in marital status. Sixty percent of the catalog shoppers were married, while only 47% of the non-catalog shoppers were married The authors recommend strategies, based on the results of the study, to catalog retailers of apparel.
Kwon et al. (1991) studied this question.