For Internet retailers, demand propagation varies not only through time but also over space. The authors develop a Bayesian spatiotemporal model to study two imitation effects in the evolution of demand at an Internet retailer. Building on previous literature, the authors allow imitation behavior to be reflected both in geographic proximity and in demographic similarity. As these imitation effects can be time varying, the authors specify their dynamics using a “polynomial smoother” embedded within the Bayesian framework. They apply the model to new buyers at Netgrocer. com and calibrate it on 45 months of data that span all 1459 zip codes in Pennsylvania. The authors find that the proximity effect is especially strong in the early phases of demand evolution, whereas the similarity effect becomes more important with time. Over time, new buyers are increasingly likely to emerge from new zip codes beyond the “core set” of zip codes that produce the early new buyers, and spatial concentration declines. The authors explore the managerial implications stemming from these findings through a hypothetical “seeding” experiment. They also discuss other implications for Internet retailing practice.

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Offline retailers face trading area and shelf space constraints, so they offer products tailored to the needs of the majority. Consumers whose preferences are dissimilar to the majority—”preference minorities”—are underserved offline and should be more likely to shop online. The authors use sales data from Diapers.com , the leading U.S. online retailer for baby diapers, to show why geographic variation in preference minority status of target customers explains geographic variation in online sales. They find that, holding the absolute number of the target customers constant, online category sales are more than 50% higher in locations where customers suffer from preference isolation. Because customers in the preference minority face higher offline shopping costs, they are also less price sensitive. Niche brands, compared with popular brands, show even greater offline-to-online sales substitution. This greater sensitivity to preference isolation means that these brands in the tail of the long tail distribution draw a greater proportion of their total sales from high–preference minority regions. The authors conclude with a discussion of implications for online retailing research and practice.

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PurposeThis study aims to identify, within the context of the French fashion industry, the characteristics of multichannel shoppers, that is, consumers who use more than one channel in a single shopping trip. We especially investigate whether consumers' focus on quality versus price affects their multichannel shopping tendency and their flexibilities in their shopping lists (basket flexibility).Design/methodology/approachWe surveyed a representative sample of 400 French shoppers regarding fashion apparel purchasing. We use a logistic regression framework to measure the probability of a shopper becoming a multichannel shopper based on the key constructs and a battery of control variables.FindingsThe analysis shows that, in fashion buying, shoppers focused on quality and those with high basket flexibility have a higher probability of becoming multichannel shoppers. The probability becomes even greater when a shopper is both quality oriented and has basket flexibility.Research limitations/implicationsWe focus on the fashion apparel market for a deeper understanding of multichannel usage of products with both experience and search features. Future research can investigate other industries for higher generalizability.Practical implicationsOur research provides insights into multichannel fashion companies whose managements aim to effectively manage high-value customers who tend to use more channels when shopping. Specifically, an omnichannel marketing strategy should focus on capturing the quality-oriented and highly basket-flexible segment of consumers.Originality/valueOur study provides evidence that for products having high experiential as well as search features, quality-oriented and highly flexible shoppers engage more in multichannel shopping. Because these characteristics are related to the long-term value of customers, we provide the link between multichannel marketing and firm profitability in the context of the fashion industry.