PurposeThe concepts of showrooming and webrooming have been well researched but majorly from the marketing/economic perspectives. The present study explores the socio-psychological motivations and different types of satisfaction derived from “cross-shopping” behaviour namely, showrooming and webrooming in a developing nation.Design/methodology/approachThe study is exploratory and is conducted using an interpretive approach. The researchers conducted 52 in-depth interviews and the collected data were subjected to open and axial coding to generate the conceptual model.FindingsThe findings indicate various motivations of cross-shopping such a habit and the joy of discovery while novel aspects of satisfaction emerge such as process satisfaction and social satisfaction. The findings also revealed contextual moderators of the cross-shopping process.Research limitations/implicationsThe present study contributes to the domain of cross shopping behaviour by illustrating the social motivators behind the same and novel satisfaction outcomes because of the cross-shopping process.Practical implicationsThe present study has multiple implications that would enable managers to effectively utilize cross shopping behaviour such understanding of satisfaction beyond those derived from the product only.Originality/valueThis is one of the first studies to investigate consumer behaviour related to cross shopping based on psycho-social dimensions.

The Indian shopping experience is undergoing a drastic shift from brick and mortar to click and order. The anytime anywhere medium Internet is playing a distinctive role in opening up novel opportunities in how business is being done. The world's largest retailer Wal-Mart's buying 77% equity stake in India's e-tail major Flipkart for the US $16 bln is an indicator of the transformation e-commerce industry is undergoing in India. Technology has bought transformations and also some scepticism related to risk and uncertainty on certain aspects of online transactions. Organised retailing accounts for 8% of an approximately 600 billion USD dollar market. There is a tremendous scope of growth if we compare the Indian economy to the other South East Asian markets. The macro-environment too suggests that India is poised for uninterrupted growth in the coming years. The rural foray of retailers can also prove to be the strategic initiative giving good results. Amazon says that 70% of its business is coming from small towns which aptly points to the fact that if challenges of rural distribution and communication are met revenues can significantly be driven up. The current study makes an attempt to explore the variation in factors affecting online shopping among rural and urban customers and also identify the significant factors affecting online shopping. The study also tries to assess the perceived concerns in online shopping. To know the most popular online site for business in India and the kind of products purchased online shall be the interest of this paper. The association of demographic variables and online shopping shall also be touched upon in this paper. The data shall be collected with the help of a questionnaire administered via random sampling on the rural and urban customer.

Purpose This study aims to analyse the roles in which children have been portrayed in advertisements over three decades (1990–2000, 2000–2010 and 2010–2020) and what have been the changes in the portrayal of the children, including the changes in product type and target audience. Design/methodology/approach The content of 212 television advertisements was analysed for the study; 32 advertisements belonged to 1990–2000, 38 belonged to 2000–2010 and 142 belonged to 2010–2020. Findings It could be observed that in 2010–2020, marketers had primarily focused on children as their central idea behind making any advertisement. They were projecting children as an emotional and informational tool for attracting adults and children, directly or indirectly. Research limitations/implications The implications of this study are manifold. Firstly, the study supports the theories of socialisation and the changing role of children in the same. Secondly, the trend over the decades hints at the marketer’s changing strategy behind using children in advertisements to target adult audiences. Practical implications The significant implication for the practitioner is the possibility of having a child protagonist in an ad for the non-children target audience. Originality/value This paper is one of the first to analyse the changing role of children in advertisements over a long time horizon.