The Relationship between Online Shopping and Traditional Shopping (Shopping Trip), Case Study: The City of Tehran

Ali Edrisi¹ Houmaan Ganjipour²

1) Assistant Professor, Department of Highway & Transportation Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering, K. N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran Email:
2) M.Sc. of Highway & Transportation Engineering, K. N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran Email:

Publication : 2nd International Conference on Research in Civil Engineering, Architecture and Urban Management and Sustainable Environment(2cauem.com)
Abstract :
Development of science and technology and expansion of communication networks have overhauled many traditional aspects of human life. Shopping is a traditional urban practice that plays a central role not only in economics but also in urban development and transportation. Some may argue that home delivery services provided by online shopping (e-shopping) systems reduce the number of shopping trips to retailers, but online shopping may lead to generation of additional trips made by those buyers who first search, select, or even buy a product online and then travel to an actual vendor to examine, test, or compare it. Therefore, accurate determination of complex relationship between these two methods of purchase can yield valuable data for transportation planners. Some researchers have reported a negative correlation between online buying and the number of shopping trips, and yet others have reported the exact opposite. The objective of this study is to assess this relationship for Tehran residents, to provide a path for adoption of new policies geared to reduce congestion and traffic. To pursue this objective, 435 questionnaires were distributed and filled by Tehran residents and the obtained raw data was analyzed by SPSS23 software; the results were then processed by AMOS 23 software to develop a structural equation model. The final results showed that online searching has a positive impact on both online shopping and traditional shopping, but they also showed that e-shopping has in fact a positive impact on traditional shopping. The results obtained in this study point toward the presence of a complementary relationship between e-shopping and in-store shopping, which means that people who use internet to purchase products are also committed to traditional methods of shopping.
Keywords : Online shopping Shopping trip Structural equation modelling