Center for Activity Systems Analysis

In this study, we look at the relationship between shopping and travel trips, especially by car, and ask whether the travel trip has intrinsic value and/or costs for shoppers. We first describe recent trends in shopping travel, based on recent travel statistics. We then seek, through the transportation and marketing literatures, different approaches to the question of why people travel to stores. This leads us to pose specific hypotheses about shopping-related trips which we then test using activity-based demand modeling. Our results suggest that the behaviors associated with the adoption of electronic home shopping are complex and that it is naive to view home shopping as just another channel. Home shopping will not evolve independently of other changes in work, daily routines and leisure time use.