Exploring why people spend more time shopping online than in offline stores

This study investigated reasons for differences in search effort between online and offline environments. To test hypotheses, an experimental method was used to imitate real search conditions in various situations (online: Pchome; offline: Tsann Kuen Co.). We selected two computer, communications, and consumer electronics products as the experimental product. Results indicated that the main reason is the difference in perceived search costs and price sensitivity in online versus offline situations. Understanding reasons for search motivation can help online sellers strategically manipulate these factors to reduce consumers’ search effort, thus enhancing the efficiency of consumers’ purchase decisions. These results provide future researchers with a direction for related studies to consider the effect of perceived search costs, price sensitivity, and search motivation on search behavior.