Online Channel Extension of Traditional Retailers: Retention of Tradition vs. Pursuit of Ideal

The present study proposes a conceptual framework to illustrate how online-offline congruence (i.e., retention of tradition) and online-prototypical congruence (i.e., pursuit of ideal) affect retail store attitude change when retail brand familiarity differs. An online survey was used to collect data to verify the hypotheses. The results indicate that both orientations can improve consumers' retail store attitudes. When retail brand familiarity is low, the online stores of traditional retailers should balance both orientations in product selections and adopt "pursuit of ideal" in prices. When retail brand familiarity is high, "retention of tradition" should be applied in product selections and both orientations should be integrated in prices for gaining more positive change in retail store attitude.