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appropriate, however, to consider search features on a retailer’s website as assistance in the same<br />

manner in which it takes place at a physical store. It is the knowledge, training, and advice from a<br />

human salesperson that may provide convenience in a way that a virtual store cannot. Thus, the<br />

following is hypothesized:<br />

H1a: For traditional in-store shoppers, retail convenience is a multidimensional<br />

construct containing five distinct dimensions: access, search, assisted search,<br />

transaction, and possession.<br />

H1b: For online shoppers, retail convenience is a multidimensional construct<br />

containing four distinct dimensions: access, search, transaction, and possession.<br />

In addition to testing the multidimensional nature of retail convenience, we also hypothesize<br />

about the relationship of these dimensions to in-store and online shoppers. As previously stated, the<br />

dimension of access convenience is defined as “the speed and ease with which consumers can reach<br />

a retailer” (Seiders, Berry, and Gresham 2000, p. 81). Consumers who frequently shop at online<br />

retail stores do so because they can shop from the comfort of their homes and at any time of the day<br />

or night. The ability to reach the retailer at a time most convenient to the consumer (access<br />

convenience) is certainly a benefit of online shopping. Compared to shopping at traditional<br />

locations, shopping online saves the consumer travel time to the location, time spent parking, and<br />

time spent traveling from the parking lot to the store (Bhatnagar, Misra, and Rao 2000). With<br />

traditional locations, however, customers are required to adjust their preferred shopping time to fit<br />

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 and<br />

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

34

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