Does Proximity Matter in Shopping Behavior?

While e-commerce continues to grow as a proportion of retail sales, consumers still largely rely on vehicle travel to shop. At the same time, the “15-minute city” concept is gaining traction, suggesting that the livability and sustainability of urban areas will improve if essential goods and services are all located in close proximity to residential areas. However, little is known about how the proximity of commercial establishments to consumers affects their shopping behaviors, namely their choice of whether to shop online or in-person, and the mode of travel if the latter is chosen.

In this study, we use data from a 2022 shopping behavior survey asking about consumers’ most recent shopping events, whether they were performed online or in-person, the travel mode. Respondents’ approximate home locations were also collected, allowing the research team to map nearby establishments. The collected data was used to estimate discrete choice models of shopping behaviors and test whether proximity to commercial establishments affects shoppers’ choices. In particular, this study tests whether proximity to commercial establishments makes consumers more likely to shop in person (vs. online) and to travel by walking (vs. driving).

Proximity to commercial establishments did not affect the likelihood of purchasing goods online, while it did affect the travel mode choice for in-person shopping travel for certain types of goods. Regression analysis indicates that each additional commercial establishment within a 0.5-mile radius increased the likelihood of walking by 23%for groceries and 17% for prepared meals. This did not apply to clothes shopping, which also had the highest rate of e-commerce at 62.4%. We observed that for in-person shopping, travel time was approximately 10 min for both walking and driving. In addition, we found that e-commerce made up 25.3% of all shopping activity and the majority (81%) of shopping travel involved driving.