Beyond promotion-based store switching: Antecedents and patterns of systematic multiple-store shopping

In this paper, we demonstrate both theoretically and empirically that single-purpose multiple-store shopping is not only driven by opportunistic, promotion-based motivations, but that it may also result from a longer-term planning process based on stable store characteristics. We find that consumers may systematically visit multiple stores to take advantage of two types of store complementarity. In the case of ‘fixed cost complementarity’, consumers alternate visits to high and low fixed cost stores to balance transportation and holding costs against acquisition costs. ‘Category-preference complementarity’ occurs when different stores offer the best value for different product categories; this may induce consumers to visit these stores together on combined shopping trips. In both cases, multiple-store shopping leads to a shift from share-of-customers to share-of-wallet retail competition.