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which consumers can reach a retailer” (Seiders, Berry, and Gresham 2000, p. 81). Consumers<br />

who frequently shop at online retail stores do so because they can shop from the comfort of their<br />

homes and at any time of the day or night. The ability to reach the retailer at a time most<br />

convenient to the consumer (access convenience) is certainly a benefit of online shopping.<br />

Compared to shopping at traditional locations, shopping online saves the consumer travel time to<br />

the location, time spent parking, and time spent traveling from the parking lot to the store<br />

(Bhatnagar, Misra, and Rao 2000). With traditional locations, however, customers are required<br />

to adjust their preferred shopping time to fit within the retailer’s hours of operation.<br />

The concept of cost-benefit analysis (Prest and Turvey 1965) may be used to explain why<br />

consumers who shop online benefit most from access convenience. Online shoppers believe that<br />

the benefit of time saved by being able to access retail outlets from the comfort of their home or<br />

office at anytime of the day or night far outweighs the costs of delayed merchandise possession<br />

and the risks associated with shopping online (Wolfinbarger and Gilly 2001; Morganosky and<br />

Cude 2000). In-store shoppers receive the benefit of immediate possession of their purchases at<br />

the sacrifice of convenient store access. Formally stated:<br />

H2: Online shoppers realize the benefit of access convenience more than<br />

traditional in-store shoppers do.<br />

Consumers who <strong>value</strong> search convenience do so because of reduced time spent looking for<br />

a particular product and finalizing their product decision. Online shoppers are more likely to<br />

realize the benefit of search convenience than in-store shoppers, simply because they are able to<br />

compare product and pricing information without having to leave home. Benefits falling within<br />

the dimension of search convenience include site design (Szymanski and Hise 2000), navigation<br />

(Childers, Carr, Peck, and Carson 2001), and selection and availability of product information<br />

(Wolfinbarger and Gilly 2001). Many consumers who choose to shop online do so because of<br />

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