MATCHING ELECTRONIC DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS TO PRODUCT CHARACTERISTICS - THE ROLE OF CONGRUENCE IN CONSIDERATION SET FORMATION

This article studies the determinants of whether consumers will consid er new delivery vehicles for banking services. Building on the brand e quity literature, a model is developed thai suggests that consideratio n will depend on consumers' preference for the banking service, their preference for the distribution method, and the perceived congruence o r fit between the distribution method and the banking service. Prefere nce for banking services and distribution methods can be further decom posed into the utility of their perceived attributes and the associate d information uncertainty. In an application, we find support for the model. Although preference for the distribution method (or delivery ve hicle) is important and statistically significant, its influence is se condary to consumers' perceptions of whether the method is appropriate to the service to which ii is being applied. This suggests that manag ers should seek to build Lip consumers' perceptions that new showing m ethods are appropriate vehicles for delivery their services rather tha n trying to boost preference for the distribution method itself. (C) 1 998 Elsevier Science Inc.