Explaining Online Purchase Intentions: A Multi-Channel Store Image Perspective

This study is one of the few empirical works addressing the impact of offline and online store impressions on consumer online purchase intentions. Building upon the literature on store image and consumer online purchasing, we propose positive effects of online store image and suggest mixed influences of offline store image perceptions. Drawing on a sample of 630 customers of one of the largest music retail stores in the Netherlands, hypotheses are tested. The empirical results clearly support the assumed positive effect of online store image, and confirm that the influence of offline store image on online purchase intentions can be positive as well negative. We discuss the implications of our research, and conclude with directions for further research.