TY - JOUR
T1 - Revisiting the effects of e-shopping on shopping trips
T2 - Empirical evidence from Chengdu, China
AU - Li, Enlong
AU - Dijst, Martin
AU - Yang, Yongchun
AU - Shi, Kunbo
AU - Witlox, Frank
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2025/12
Y1 - 2025/12
N2 - The rapid proliferation of e-commerce has profoundly changed the way people shop and travel. To date, numerous empirical studies have examined the impact of e-shopping on shopping trips. However, there is still no consensus on this topic, which is probably because the existing analytical methods cannot effectively measure the relationship. This study aims to revisit the travel effects of e-shopping using current shopping behavior as a reference point, ensuring the temporal precedence of causal inference. Utilizing data from 742 respondents in Chengdu, China, we found that 41.5 %–68.2 % of the respondents would be inclined to increase their frequencies of shopping travel for four categories of products (i.e., clothes, books, packaged foods, and daily necessities) if these goods were not available online, suggesting stronger substitution effects. Additionally, the substitution effect varies notably among product categories, with clothes showing a stronger substitution effect compared to others. In addition, regression outcomes suggest that longer smartphone use history, greater e-shopping enjoyment, and lower street density increase the likelihood of substituting shopping travel.
AB - The rapid proliferation of e-commerce has profoundly changed the way people shop and travel. To date, numerous empirical studies have examined the impact of e-shopping on shopping trips. However, there is still no consensus on this topic, which is probably because the existing analytical methods cannot effectively measure the relationship. This study aims to revisit the travel effects of e-shopping using current shopping behavior as a reference point, ensuring the temporal precedence of causal inference. Utilizing data from 742 respondents in Chengdu, China, we found that 41.5 %–68.2 % of the respondents would be inclined to increase their frequencies of shopping travel for four categories of products (i.e., clothes, books, packaged foods, and daily necessities) if these goods were not available online, suggesting stronger substitution effects. Additionally, the substitution effect varies notably among product categories, with clothes showing a stronger substitution effect compared to others. In addition, regression outcomes suggest that longer smartphone use history, greater e-shopping enjoyment, and lower street density increase the likelihood of substituting shopping travel.
KW - Chengdu (China)
KW - E-shopping
KW - Shopping trips
KW - Substitution effect
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105015163544
U2 - 10.1016/j.rtbm.2025.101496
DO - 10.1016/j.rtbm.2025.101496
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:105015163544
SN - 2210-5395
VL - 63
JO - Research in Transportation Business and Management
JF - Research in Transportation Business and Management
M1 - 101496
ER -