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The consumer retail search process: A conceptual model and research agenda

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Abstract

Consumers are continually faced with the task of finding their way through a wide variety of retail environments. Surprisingly, very little research has addressed questions about how consumers physically search through retail settings. This article explores this important, yet little researched behavior. A conceptual model of the consumer’s retail search process (CRSP) and several research propositions are advanced. The CRSP model integrates research findings relevant to an understanding of consumer retail search behavior. Literature from such diverse fields of scientific inquiry as environmental psychology, human factors, architecture, and marketing are reviewed and serve as the theoretical basis of the CRSP model.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bowling Green State University, USA

    Philip A. Titus (assistant professor of marketing)

  2. the University Park Campus of Pennsylvania State University, USA

    Peter B. Everett (associate professor of marketing)

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  1. Philip A. Titus
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  2. Peter B. Everett
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Additional information

He received his Ph.D. in marketing from Pennsylvania State University in 1991. His current research interest concerns how consumers interact with the physical environment and how this interaction influences subsequent behavior. His research has been published in theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing and theJournal of Marketing Education.

His teaching and research interests focus on marketing and the environment and services marketing. He has carried out extensive research under sponsorship of federal, state, and local agencies on consumer behavior and urban travel and energy consumption. He received a B.S. degree in psychology from the University of Washington in 1966 and a Ph.D., also in psychology, from the University of North Carolina in 1972.

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Titus, P.A., Everett, P.B. The consumer retail search process: A conceptual model and research agenda. JAMS 23, 106–119 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1177/0092070395232003

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