The New York Times

DRILLING DOWN/Online Shopping Picky Purchasers For several years, retailers have operated under the assumption that so-called multichannel shoppers — those who use a combination of the Web, catalogs and brick-and-mortar stores to buy from a single retailer — are much more valuable than people who shop only at that retailer offline. But those multichannel shoppers may not be so valuable after all, according to research released today by the Internet consultancy Jupiter Research. It is true that multichannel shoppers tend to spend more with a given retailer than the merchant’s single-channel consumers. But they also cost more to serve. Not only are they more motivated by discounts than other shoppers, but they tend to be choosier — especially about buying apparel online. They are much more likely to rely on costly online customer service features like chat, for instance. “Retailers should consider the costs, not just the benefits, of serving them,” said Juliana Deeks, who wrote the Jupiter report. “Sometimes they may actually be a liability.” BOB TEDESCHI Graphic: Top Reasons Shoppers Did Not Buy Apparel Online