FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO IN SHOPPING BEHAVIOR IN RURAL TRADE AREAS - IMPLICATIONS FOR LOCAL RETAILERS

Historically examined for their contribution to explaining why consume rs shop beyond or outside their local community, the following factors are refocused to measure their degree of influence on contemporary co nsumers' inshopping behavior: (1) demographic and lifestyle variables; (2) socioeconomic attitudes; and (3) attitudes abut local retail faci lities. An additional construct-consumers' satisfaction with community -wide reciprocity-was predicted to explain consumer inshopping behavio r in the rural retail environment. Reciprocity has had little empirica l investigation as to its influence on small community consumer-retail er exchange. Results of this exploratory study suggest that reasons fo r inshopping versus outshopping are not necessarily inversely related. Findings are suggested to offer insight for strengthening the rural r etailer's competitive strategy and for meeting local consumer expectat ions.