Shopping orientations as antecedents to channel choice in the French grocery multichannel landscape

• We examine whether shopping orientations influence channel choice decisions.
• We find that they influence both inter- and within-channel competition.
• Sustainable store orientation reduces preference for conventional and online stores.
• Sustainable store orientation is related to organic store and online store format.
• Local product orientation is related to preference for local markets and city stores.

This paper investigates the influence of consumer shopping orientations on grocery channel attractiveness and choice. It extends the concept of shopping orientation (utilitarian and hedonic) to account for emerging motivations among French consumers: shopping in line with sustainable and ethical values. In doing so, it helps profile segments of consumers who choose to shop through new online channels (Drive through) and newly deployed store formats (city stores). A sample of 300 French customers, responsible for shopping in the household, was surveyed. Hypotheses were tested through Latent Class Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling with categorical outcomes. Our findings indicate that consumers shopping orientations influence the way consumers will combine the different channels and store formats for grocery purchase. In particular, our results highlight the importance of responsible retail practices and ethical assortments in consumers' choice of online formats whilst local product orientation influences the choice of city stores and market places.