Comparison Sites: Simplified or Directed Effort? Macro-Study on Retailers’ and Intermediaries’ Online Channel: An Abstract

Abstract

Retailing industry has undergone constant evolution and transformation in the past two decades, with the Internet being one of the main catalysts. Retailers capitalize on their owned online channel; whereas new form of online intermediaries are emerging. This macro-level study investigates how consumers use the online platform to interact with retailers, analyzing data from an Internet panel data provider. Actual behaviour of consumers on retailers’ online channel and online intermediaries is examined, across multiple websites. Behaviour within one channel, in terms of adoption and usage intensity, as well as the cross-channel behaviour is measured. Results indicate that cross-channel behaviour of consumers influences their activities on retailers’ website. Retailers that have a higher cross-visiting rate with intermediaries benefit from a more intense evaluation of their offerings. This suggests that online intermediaries direct consumer evaluation effort rather than simplifying it. This study builds a foundation for future research in the realm of multichannel behaviour by analyzing channel usage across retailers’ and online intermediaries’ websites.