Segmenting Consumers by Multidimensional Negative Attitudes Toward Online Shopping: Evidence from Two Studies

This study examines whether consumers can be segmented based on multidimensional negative attitudes toward online shopping (NATOS). Drawing on the eight-dimensional NATOS framework, Study 1 (n = 336) uses cluster analysis to identify three consumer segments: concerned skeptics, cautious evaluators, and open adopters. Study 2 validates this broad three-segment structure in an independent sample of actual customers from a German online retailer (n = 365). Across both studies, the segments differ primarily in overall NATOS severity, while the individual dimensions reveal which concerns are most salient within each segment and context. Direct comparisons with alternative three-cluster solutions based on the aggregate NATOS score reveal substantial, though incomplete, overlap, suggesting that overall severity largely shapes the broad segment structure, while the individual dimensions offer additional diagnostic insight. The findings extend online shopping segmentation research by showing how multidimensional negative attitudes can serve as a behaviorally relevant psychographic basis for segmentation. For online retailers, the results can inform segment-specific communication and service strategies that address both the intensity of consumers’ negative ­attitudes and the specific concerns reflected in their NATOS profiles.