Travel Behaviour of Online Shoppers in Sweden

Online shopping opportunities are transforming travel behaviour for shopping and could potentially reduce the overall travel demand. Despite numerous studies on online shopping, only a few have taken an approach that includes trips for all travel purposes. Based on a web–survey, this paper provides results on travel behaviour for physical shopping for frequent, regular, and infrequent online shoppers in Sweden. The results indicate that frequent online shoppers make as many car trips (for both shopping and other errands) as others. Also, frequent online shoppers in total make as many trips to a physical store as infrequent online shoppers – although by more sustainable modes of transport – and that the time saved from online shopping is spent on both additional shopping trips and trips for other errands. The conclusion is that online shopping might facilitate changing travel behaviour but does not in itself represent a good stand–alone measure for reducing vehicle mileage.