Consumers shopping selection of the internet users in America and Taiwan

Through on-line surveys, information about 1060 American and 909 Taiwanese internet users were collected and analyzed with a view to comparing their channel selection behavior in shopping for a variety of product services. Individual demographic factors (i.e., gender, age, and education) and their shopping orientations were used as the predictors of their use of the Web, catalogs, and retail stores for product information as well as for product purchase venues. Retail store was still the predominant marketing channel for many product categories; however, the Web emerged as the top choice for a few digital products and the second choice for a digital goods. Catalog was the lagging behind one though it has been existing in marketplace longer than the Web. Results from multiple regression analyses indicated that individual´s acquaintance with a particular channel was strong predictors of the frequency of the channel usage. Meanwhile, shopping orientations, such as, convenience, exWeb,periential (pre-purchase inspection) and selective shopping showed significant impacts on the use of the Web and of catalogs respectively.