Online Comparison Shopping Behavior of Travel Consumers

Abstract

This article examines the extent of pre-purchase comparison search activity, in terms of comparison search duration and dispersion (number of alternative vendors examined) and its impact on purchase propensity for flight, car rental and hotel reservations. Click stream data and transactions from the Comscore panel of travelers between March and September 2008 are used to examine our hypotheses. Results show that comparison dispersion has an inverted-U relationship on purchase probability for flight and rental cars but does not significantly impact hotel purchases. Further, comparison search dispersion and duration differ for households of different sizes and income. These findings can help travel website managers develop appropriate online search marketing strategies to increase purchase conversion among different demographic segments.