Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of online shopping, making it an integral part of consumer behaviour. This surge in e-commerce adoption has potential implications for transport behaviour, spatial patterns of transport flows, and modifications to existing transport infrastructure. This paper aims to explain the spatial patterns of online shopping behaviour and its relationship to in-store shopping in the metropolitan region of Ostrava, a medium-sized polycentric agglomeration in the Czech Republic. The innovation-diffusion hypothesis was tested, which posits higher e-commerce adoption in urban cores, and the efficiency hypothesis, suggesting that e-commerce reduces the need for shopping-related travel. The research draws on survey data from 468 respondents to examine the effects of spatial, sociodemographic, and attitudinal variables on the frequency of online shopping. General linear models were employed to test both current differences in the frequency of online shopping behaviour and changes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Neither the innovation-diffusion hypothesis nor the efficiency hypothesis was supported. The frequency of online shopping showed relatively minor intra-metropolitan differences, with no systematic effects of urban form, centrality or accessibility. Lifestyle habits (specifically, time spent online) emerged as the most significant predictor of online shopping behaviour. The findings revealed no significant substitution or complementary effects between online and in-store shopping, suggesting a neutral relationship. These results highlight the primacy of individual lifestyle and e-commerce adoption over spatial and sociodemographic factors in shaping patterns of shopping behaviour.