U NTIL quite recently, marketing literature overlooked shopping at home as a significant contributor to retail sales. Today, after years of relative neglect by marketing authors, in-home retailing is becoming recognized for what it has been for several decades: a modem, fast-growing, urban-oriented method of selling.' This recognition of in-home retailing's promise has produced a growing literature profiling the in-home shopper. The published studies, still relatively few, reveal some useful insights on in-home shoppers and shopping, but the evidence is scattered, sometimes conflicting, and a clear picture of the inhome shopper has yet to emerge. This article reviews available findings in an attempt to clarify what is known and not yet known about this promising market. It is perhaps useful to look first at in-home expenditures on both aggregate and household levels. An overview of these data illustrates both the growing size and diversity of the in-home market.

Jon Marc

Papers

A psychographic study of mail and telephone shoppers