IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/rdv/wpaper/credresearchpaper47.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Determinants of Online Shopping Behavior

Author

Listed:
  • Maximilian von Ehrlich, Frederic Kluser

Abstract

This paper investigates two areas of e-commerce adoption. First, we study how the COVID-19 pandemic and related policy measures shaped online grocery shopping adoption in Switzerland. Second, we analyze the role of close family ties in accelerating e-commerce diffusion. Using a comprehensive dataset of householdlevel transactions at the nation’s largest retailer matched to administrative registers, we document a substantial increase in online expenditures. This shift is heterogeneous: younger and larger households, as well as those with limited local store access, are particularly responsive. Moreover, using a stringency index, we find that stricter mitigation policies intensify online usage. We also highlight strong intergenerational peer effects: within multi-generational families, when one generation adopts online shopping, the other is one to two times more likely to adopt as well. Our findings highlight both the policy sensitivity of digital market penetration and the social dynamics that accelerate technology diffusion in retail.

Suggested Citation

  • Maximilian von Ehrlich, Frederic Kluser, 2024. "Determinants of Online Shopping Behavior," Diskussionsschriften credresearchpaper47, Universitaet Bern, Departement Volkswirtschaft - CRED.
    • Handle: RePEc:rdv:wpaper:credresearchpaper47
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://repec.vwiit.ch/cred/CREDResearchPaper47.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Maris Goldmanis & Ali Hortaçsu & Chad Syverson & Önsel Emre, 2010. "E-Commerce and the Market Structure of Retail Industries," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 120(545), pages 651-682, June.
    2. Liran Einav & Chiara Farronato & Jonathan Levin, 2016. "Peer-to-Peer Markets," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 8(1), pages 615-635, October.
    3. Regina Pleninger & Sina Streicher & Jan-Egbert Sturm, 2022. "Do COVID-19 containment measures work? Evidence from Switzerland," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics, Springer;Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics, vol. 158(1), pages 1-24, December.
    4. Alberto Cavallo, 2017. "Are Online and Offline Prices Similar? Evidence from Large Multi-channel Retailers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(1), pages 283-303, January.
    5. Yannis Bakos, 2001. "The Emerging Landscape for Retail E-Commerce," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(1), pages 69-80, Winter.
    6. Andrea Pozzi, 2012. "Shopping Cost and Brand Exploration in Online Grocery," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(3), pages 96-120, August.
    7. Ali Hortaçsu & Chad Syverson, 2015. "The Ongoing Evolution of US Retail: A Format Tug-of-War," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 29(4), pages 89-112, Fall.
    8. Mark Aguiar & Erik Hurst, 2007. "Measuring Trends in Leisure: The Allocation of Time Over Five Decades," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(3), pages 969-1006.
    9. Katherine Harris‐Lagoudakis, 2022. "Online shopping and the healthfulness of grocery purchases," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 104(3), pages 1050-1076, May.
    10. Erik Brynjolfsson & Michael D. Smith, 2000. "Frictionless Commerce? A Comparison of Internet and Conventional Retailers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 46(4), pages 563-585, April.
    11. Shiyi Chen & Wanlin Liu & Hong Song & Qing Zhang, 2024. "Government‐led e‐commerce expansion project and rural household income: Evidence and mechanisms," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 62(1), pages 150-174, January.
    12. Andreas Lendle & Marcelo Olarreaga & Simon Schropp & Pierre‐Louis Vézina, 2016. "There Goes Gravity: eBay and the Death of Distance," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 126(591), pages 406-441, March.
    13. Yoon Jo & Misaki Matsumura & David E. Weinstein, 2024. "The Impact of Retail E-Commerce on Relative Prices and Consumer Welfare," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 106(6), pages 1675-1689, November.
    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. Harris-Lagoudakis, Katherine, 2023. "The effect of online shopping channels on brand choice, product exploration and price elasticities," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    2. Erik Brynjolfsson & Xiang Hui & Meng Liu, 2019. "Does Machine Translation Affect International Trade? Evidence from a Large Digital Platform," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(12), pages 5449-5460, December.
    3. Steel, Will & Daglish, Toby & Marriott, Lisa & Gemmell, Norman & Howell, Bronwyn, 2013. "E-Commerce and its effect upon the Retail Industry and Government Revenue," Working Paper Series 4333, Victoria University of Wellington, The New Zealand Institute for the Study of Competition and Regulation.
    4. Fan, Jingting & Tang, Lixin & Zhu, Weiming & Zou, Ben, 2018. "The Alibaba effect: Spatial consumption inequality and the welfare gains from e-commerce," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 203-220.
    5. Julia Bock-Schappelwein & Michael Böheim & Elisabeth Christen & Stefan Ederer & Matthias Firgo & Klaus Friesenbichler & Werner Hölzl & Mathias Kirchner & Angela Köppl & Agnes Kügler & Christine Mayrhu, 2018. "Politischer Handlungsspielraum zur optimalen Nutzung der Vorteile der Digitalisierung für Wirtschaftswachstum, Beschäftigung und Wohlstand," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 61256.
    6. Steel, Will & Daglish, Toby & Marriott, Lisa & Gemmell, Norman & Howell, Bronwyn, 2013. "E-Commerce and its effect upon the Retail Industry and Government Revenue," Working Paper Series 19294, Victoria University of Wellington, The New Zealand Institute for the Study of Competition and Regulation.
    7. Chun, Hyunbae & Joo, Hailey Hayeon & Kang, Jisoo & Lee, Yoonsoo, 2020. "Diffusion of E-Commerce and Retail Job Apocalypse: Evidence from Credit Card Data on Online Spending," CEI Working Paper Series 2020-7, Center for Economic Institutions, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    8. repec:vuw:vuwscr:19294 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Michael R. Baye & John Morgan & Patrick Scholten, 2004. "Price Dispersion In The Small And In The Large: Evidence From An Internet Price Comparison Site," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(4), pages 463-496, December.
    10. Carballo, Jerónimo & Rodriguez Chatruc, Marisol & Salas Santa, Catalina & Volpe Martincus, Christian, 2022. "Online business platforms and international trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    11. Xiong, Yanyan & Cui, Xue & Yu, Liuming, 2024. "Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on online consumption share: Evidence from China's mobile payment data," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    12. Gerard J. Berg, 2006. "Revolutionary Effects of New Information Technologies," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 116(509), pages 10-28, February.
    13. Duch-Brown, Néstor & Grzybowski, Lukasz & Romahn, André & Verboven, Frank, 2021. "Are online markets more integrated than traditional markets? Evidence from consumer electronics," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    14. Chris Forman & Anindya Ghose & Avi Goldfarb, 2006. "Geography and Electronic Commerce: Measuring Convenience, Selection, and Price," Working Papers 06-15, NET Institute, revised Sep 2006.
    15. Arbatskaya, Maria & Baye, Michael R., 2004. "Are prices 'sticky' online? Market structure effects and asymmetric responses to cost shocks in online mortgage markets," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 22(10), pages 1443-1462, December.
    16. Su, Tong & Tao, Yanyang & Wang, Jingyi, 2024. "FinTech adoption and the clustered development of rural e-commerce: Evidence from Taobao Village," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    17. Nagengast, Arne J. & Bursian, Dirk & Menz, Jan-Oliver, 2021. "Dynamic pricing and exchange rate pass-through: Evidence from transaction-level data," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    18. Hillen, Judith & Fedoseeva, Svetlana, 2021. "E-commerce and the end of price rigidity?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 63-73.
    19. Eymann, Torsten (Ed.), 2007. "Tagungsband zum Doctoral Consortium der WI 2007 [WI2007 Doctoral Consortium Proceedings]," Bayreuth Reports on Information Systems Management 24, University of Bayreuth, Chair of Information Systems Management.
    20. Hayakawa, Kazunobu & Mukunoki, Hiroshi, 2022. "How does additive manufacturing change trade?: evidence from trade in sound recordings," IDE Discussion Papers 848, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    21. Michael R. Baye & John Morgan & Patrick Scholten, 2004. "Temporal Price Dispersion: Evidence from an Online Consumer Electronics Market," Working Papers 2004-04, Indiana University, Kelley School of Business, Department of Business Economics and Public Policy.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:rdv:wpaper:credresearchpaper47. 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: Franz Koelliker (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vwibech.html .

    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.