An exploratory study of the effect of shopping congruence on perceptions, attitudes, and purchase intentions in online and offline stores

Using the Cognitive Continuum Theory (CCT) as a theoretical framework, this study initially proposes a new theory, "shopping congruence," which explains how people react to shopping environments, based on their shopping tasks. The research empirically tested the impact of shopping congruence on perceptions, attitudes and purchase intentions in an actual offline store situation in Study 1. Due to the increasing importance of multi-channel retail strategies, Study 2 tested the robustness of the impact of shopping congruence in an actual online store situation. This study found that a shopping congruence incorporates both cognitive shopping congruence and intuitive shopping congruence. The results of Study 1 assure the positive impact of shopping congruence on both cognitive and intuitive perceptions, on cognitive attitudes, and on purchase intentions toward stores, though not on affective attitudes toward stores. The results of Study 2 found that the impact of shopping congruence on perceptions and purchase intentions is robust across multi-channels (offline and online stores), whereas the impact of shopping congruence on analytic and affective attitudes toward stores is not robust across multi-channels. Considering these results, multi-channel retail strategies and strategic plans for store environments should differentiate between offline stores and online stores. Managerial implications for multi-channel retailers and further research for shopping congruence are discussed.