Beyond the click: Exploring consumer behavior differences between retail apps and mobile websites
(A2025-125988)

AUTHORS

Huan Liu, Business School, Nankai University; Xiyao Li, Business School, Nankai University

ABSTRACT

Most retailers operate multiple channels to engage with customers. Existing research primarily focused on the effect of newly introduced channels on consumer behavior, while our research addresses different consumer behavioral patterns across long-standing digital channels: an app and a mobile website. Utilizing a large dataset of individual purchase histories from a multichannel B2C platform, we found that consumers spend 9.73% more and purchase 8.60% more items through the mobile website (vs. app). Consumers purchased through the mobile website also experience a lower likelihood of product return than through the app. These behavioral differences are critically influenced by product categories, price levels, and discount depth. Our findings contribute to understanding consumers’ stable behavioral patterns across long-standing mobile channels and providing valuable insights for firms to adopt tailored multichannel strategy.