Understanding young consumers' personal-level cultural orientation and shopping intentions: Implications for small-town retailers

Abstract

This research compared the shopping motivations and behaviors of young consumers toward small-town retailing based on their personal-level cultural orientation: idiocentrism (personal-level individualism) or allocentrism (personal-level collectivism). A total of 493 usable data were collected from U.S. consumers under the age of 30 using an online survey. Six shopping motivations (assortment-seeking, uniqueness-seeking, convenience-seeking, price comparison, social interactions, and browsing) and two shopping intentions (physical store shopping and mobile shopping) were compared between the two consumer groups. The results confirmed that idiocentric and allocentric consumers differ in motivations and intentions to shop at retailers in small towns. Thus, marketing efforts to promote small-town retailing could be specific to consumers’ personal-level cultural orientations and should emphasize small-town retailing as a convenient and economic shopping option to buy unique and different kinds of products.