A Cashless Society for All: Determining Consumers’ Readiness to Adopt Mobile Payment Services

ABSTRACT

The technology readiness index was applied to determine consumers’ readiness to adopt mobile payment services and the moderating effect of gender. Gender has been identified as a key variable in adoption and its vital role in market segmentation and gender empowerment obliges its inclusion. The results of the regression analysis indicate that convenience and compatibility drive consumers’ adoption whereas risk, cost and insecurity are inhibitors. Furthermore, gender moderates only the relationship between convenience and the adoption of mobile payment services. Given the moderating effect of gender, companies should initiate advertising campaigns targeting women opinion leaders in advertisements, which can in turn encourage and educate other women to enjoy the convenience of mobile payments. Results provide insights on how to increase adoption and reduce the gender gap in mobile payment services.     

Exploring factors influencing US millennial consumers’ use of tap-and-go payment technology

ABSTRACT

Although mobile payment (MP) represents a possibility for traditional brick-and-mortar US retailers to enhance the quality of customer service, mobile payment adoption in the US has lagged, with research regarding this phenomenon in the US seemingly in its embryonic stage. The current study contributes to the literature on mobile payment adoption in the US by investigating the factors on US millennial consumers’ use of mobile payment technology, operationalized in the study as tap-and-go payment systems. The study mirrors a study of the acceptance of mobile shopping technology among German consumers, with some extension. The study incorporated mobile payment risk perception, system trust, and socio-cultural influence into an extended technology acceptance model (TAM) to explore this issue. Results from a survey conducted among 357 US Millennials indicate that perceived ease of use of MP (PEOUMP); perceived usefulness (PUMP); and risk perception all influence attitude toward mobile payment (AttMP). System trust, socio-cultural influence, and AttMP all influence MP use intention. The paper discussed the limitations of the study and future research directions.     

Standing up for or against: A text-mining study on the recommendation of mobile payment apps

Mobile payment systems offer enormous potential as alternative payment solutions. However, the diffusion of mobile payments over the years has been less than optimal despite the numerous studies that have explored the reasons for its adoption. Consequently, there is an increased interest in exploring alternative actions for promoting its diffusion, especially user recommendation of the technology. This is because positive recommendations can enormously influence the decisions of potential consumers to use the technology while negative recommendations can increase resistance to it. The few extant studies in this domain have followed the traditional survey approach with hypothetic-deductive reasoning, thus limiting an understanding of factors outside their conceptual models that could influence recommendations. To address this shortcoming, this study uses a qualitative text-mining approach that explores themes from user reviews of mobile payment applications (apps). Using 5955 reviews from 16 mobile payment apps hosted on the Google Play store, this study applied the latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) text-mining method to extract themes from the reviews that help to explain why users provide positive or negative recommendations about mobile payment systems. A total of 13 themes (i.e. ease of use, usefulness, convenience, security, reliability, satisfaction, transaction speed, time-saving, customer support, output quality, perceived cost, usability and trust) were generated from the LDA model which provides both theoretical and practical insights for advancing mobile payments diffusion and research.     

On the monetization of mobile apps

Though the mobile app market is substantial and growing fast, most app providers struggle to monetize apps profitably. Monetizing apps is done in two ways: a) selling advertising space within a free version of the app, and b) selling a paid version, termed freemium or in-app purchase strategy. In this paper, we present a framework for monetization of mobile apps, using two central empirical regularities concerning the relationship between users and their mobile apps: a) Sampling: While consumers have some prior knowledge of their fit with the app, they remain uncertain regarding their exact utility until they are using it; and b) Satiation: The utility of using the app may decrease with time. While work on the monetization of digital goods has largely overlooked the role of satiation and the consequent retention issues, we show that in combination with uncertainty, it elucidates the role of the segments of consumers that download the free vs. paid version of the app, and how to balance these two segments so as to monetize mobile apps. We encounter two distinct scenarios: In the first, advertising drives most of the revenues; while in the second, revenues are driven by the paid version of the app. We explain how uncertainty and satiation affect the prevalence of the respective scenarios and impact the share of revenues from the paid vs free version of the app. We also demonstrate that an app provider can profit from offering a free version with ads even if advertisers are not paying for these ads. In other words, the app provider benefits from offering a “damaged good” version of the app that includes ads, even if this version is free to consumers, and the advertisers are not paying for the ads.     

An omnichannel approach to retailing: demystifying and identifying the factors influencing an omnichannel experience

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this research is to identify the factors that influence an omnichannel experience. Omnichannel is an emerging approach to retailing that responds to the changing nature of how customers shop in alternation between online and offline shops, and the increasing use of digital devices (e.g. smartphones and tablets), as a consequence retailers are focusing and establishing a seamless integrated approach to their services. Omnichannel is now a hot topic in retailing but there is a lack of empirical studies into the factors that influence an omnichannel experience. Using a mixed methods approach, we propose and empirically test a conceptual model that identifies four factors influencing an omnichannel experience: brand familiarity; customisation; perceived value, and technology readiness. We conceptualise omnichannel to include three key channels; in-store, online and mobile. Two hundred and forty-six questionnaires were collected and analysed using PLS-SEM and 11 interviews were carried out with marketing/ omnichannel professionals. Our results indicate that brand familiarity has a strong influence on omnichannel (in-store, online and mobile) while perceived value has a negative impact on the mobile experience. Our results show that retailers need to consider multiple factors, such as brand familiarity, customisation, perceived value and technology readiness as influencing factors of an omnichannel experience, and plan the use of multiple touchpoints simultaneously to enhance their overall customer’s experience. Although this study demonstrates the significant factors influencing an omnichannel experience, questions remain regarding the exact use of each touchpoint by customers and the extent of overlap between the touchpoints. which .     

The rules of engagement: how to motivate consumers to engage with branded mobile apps

ABSTRACT

This research presents and validates a framework, which illustrates how to motivate consumers to engage with branded mobile applications, or apps. The framework shows that consumer involvement with branded apps underpins two sets of consumer perceptions of the benefits that the app offers, which reflect the different motives for engaging with the app, as consumers experience them. These perceptions include the utilitarian motives of security, usefulness and ease of use; and the hedonic motives of interpersonal utility, attachment (with the device) and entertainment. This range of motives leads to the willingness to pay for the app and the willingness to recommend it. This research contributes to marketing theory by clarifying specific details of the psychological process through which it is possible to motivate consumer engagement with branded apps - i.e. by means of binding involvement, perceptions of how apps’ benefits meet individual needs and two key outcomes. The findings also yield managerial relevance. Above all, the outcomes of this research suggest that, by involving and motivating consumers through the improvement of the benefits that a branded app offers, it is possible to increase the app’s revenues and to encourage word-of-mouth, creating value for app providers and consumers.     

Segmenting Markets Along Multiple Dimensions of Luxury Value: The Case of India

abstract

This is one of the first investigations of consumer motivations for purchasing luxury brands in India, a country with an emerging middle class. It identifies four dimensions of luxury benefits for segmenting markets. These include the financial, functional, personal, and social benefits of luxury value. Using data collected from 329 respondents in Mumbai the study identifies nine luxury factors for purchase behavior. These are used for classifying respondents into three behavioral segments using cluster analysis. The first segment appears to buy luxury goods primarily for their snob appeal, the second segment for their prestige appeal, and the third for their value appeal. The results show that while many consumers may buy the same luxury goods, their motivations for doing so differ. The findings should help marketers tailor their messages to specific luxury-seeking segments. There are many papers on luxury brands but very few are from emerging markets. The results may be of great use to global brands that are looking for expansion due to slowdown condition across globe.     

Examining consumers' continuous usage of multichannel retailers' mobile applications

This paper examines the variables influencing a consumer's satisfaction and continuous use of a multichannel retailer's mobile application. Drawing upon the Expectation Confirmation Model for Information Technologies, post-adoption literature, and consumer behavior literature, we assess pertinent factors on the continuous usage of multichannel retailers' mobile apps. Through a sample of 1009 consumers who retained a retailer's mobile app for more than 6 months and conducting Structural Equation Modelling, the findings illustrate that utilitarian variables (perceived usefulness, ease of use, and personalization), hedonic variables (perceived enjoyment), and a brand-related variable (consumer loyalty intention toward the retailer's brand), play a significant role in influencing continuous usage of multichannel retailers' mobile apps. In contrast to e-commerce research, the study outlines that escapism plays a negative role in both consumer satisfaction and intention to continue to use a multichannel retailer's mobile app. Previous research points to the fact that consumers' retention of retailers' apps is low. This paper contributes to the emerging literature on consumers' continuous use of retailers' mobile apps through enhancing our understanding of technology and non-technology-related variables.     

An Empirical Segmentation of Users of Mobile Banking Apps

Digital technologies have squeezed the entire world into a small frame. Trade and transactions never stop, and they go where the customer is. Marketers must reinvent their strategies and toolkits to win in this hyper-connected world. Companies are creating new and improved ways for engaging and involving their consumers, and one significant tool now used by companies for these purposes is the app. Mobile phones have registered the highest growth among all technological evolutions, and mobile apps are proliferating. Apps are being used across a diverse range of industry verticals, including banking, e-commerce, travel, and tourism. This article studies a set of twenty different banking apps and segments consumers based on their adoption and usage of the apps. This article emphasizes the role of mobile technologies to change established channels and banking services, and also analyzes how the Indian banking sector has benefited from the adoption of mobile apps.     

When and how consumers are willing to exchange data with retailers: An exploratory segmentation

Consumer data is a crucial resource for retailers. Yet accessing this data increasingly requires consumers to willingly participate in data exchange. This paper draws on social exchange theory and privacy calculus to investigate differences in consumer willingness to exchange data with retailers. Consumers are also profiled on their perceptions of retailer's use and abuse of data, along with the antecedents and outcomes of these perceptions. We employ a cross-sectional quantitative survey and collect data from a sample of 463 US consumers. For statistical analysis, we employ a latent class segmentation and identify six consumer segments which differ in their perceptions of the consumer-retailer data exchange. The key drivers of these segment differences include privacy concerns, technology readiness, and general trust of, and engagement with, retail brands. The segments also differ in their subsequent views towards the use and abuse of their data by retailers, including willingness to exchange data. Hence, when accessing and utilizing consumer data, it is important that brands identify different segments, and adapt their approach accordingly.     

Mobile shopping intensity: Consumer demographics and motivations

PurposeTo investigate how consumer demographics and motivations may influence their mobile shopping intensity.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey was developed to collect data using SurveyMonkey's online shopper panel. The final sample consisted of 937 mobile shoppers. Linear regression analysis was performed to test the hypotheses.FindingsConsumers' education and income levels significantly increase their number of mobile purchases, their frequency of purchases, and the amount of money spent on mobile purchases. Males have been found to spend more on mobile shopping than females, while younger people made more mobile purchases than older people. This study also identifies six types of motivations that drive consumers’ mobile shopping intensity, including convenience seeking, bargain hunting, enjoyment seeking, perceived usefulness, ease of use, and innovativeness.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research may examine additional motivational measures and situational factors and conduct cross-cultural studies.Practical implicationsFindings from this study can help businesses develop their mobile shopping strategies.Originality/valueThis is the first study to investigate how consumer demographics and motivations may influence their mobile shopping intensity.     

Marketing the Arts—A Classification of U. K. Theatre Audiences

ABSTRACT

This article presents empirical research findings on the make-up of U.K. theatre audiences. A representative sample was taken of theatre attendees in the Plymouth area of South Devon and cluster analysis applied in an attempt to identify distinct market segments. Three segments were identified, namely: nouveau sophisticats, blue mooners and ageing socialites. Each segment was found to have distinctly different motivations for attending a theatrical production and to be associated with different demographic and psychographic variables. The findings are interpreted in the light of the available literature and a number of recommendations are made in respect of how theatres could use this knowledge to improve the targeting of their promotional campaigns.     

Prevalence and attitude of university students towards mobile phone use while driving in Jeddah,Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and attitude of university students towards mobile phone use while driving. The present study was conducted at King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Five hundred and ninety-three participants were recruited for this study. Attitude, consequences and their involvement in various reckless behaviours pertaining to the use of mobile phone while driving were checked by a questionnaire. Overall, the majority of the respondents (90%) use a mobile phone while driving. About half of the participants had experienced consequences regarding texting while driving and had engaged in reckless behaviour. The majority of the students of Faculty of Medicine, Engineering Sciences, Earth Sciences, Administration and Economics and Orientation Classes were more frequently texting while driving (p < .001). The unmarried students were more often texting while driving as compared to married (p < .001). Overall, the majority of the respondents use the mobile phone while driving.     

Mobile Commerce

Abstract

To Business-to-Consumer (B2C) companies, finding convenient and secure payment methods is crucial. While the most popular payment method in the United States is the credit card, the common methods in Japan are cash on delivery, transfer of payment into bank accounts, and postal money order. The paper presents such issues as why credit card payments have not become the mainstream payment method in Japan, the current situation of other payment methods, and the future mobile trend.     

‘Regrettable-escapism’ the negative effects of mobile app use: A retail perspective

Despite the enhanced shopping opportunities that mobile devices offer to consumers, there is a fine line between consumers enjoying the mobile shopping process and them regretting the time spent involved in it. Through the lens of Uses and Gratifications Theory (U>) and drawing on Flow Theory, this study aims to understand the effects of consumers' interactions with mobile shopping apps on their intention to reuse the app in the future, loyalty towards the brand and brand reputation. Study 1, through a questionnaire (n = 1024), provides insight into the positive and negative relationships between Utilitarian and Hedonic gratifications on intentions to reuse a retailer's mobile app, loyalty towards the b,rand and the brand's reputation. Through undertaking 24 in-depth interviews, Study 2 provides deeper insight into these relationships to uncover the complex nature of the negative effects of escapism. Findings demonstrate that the addictive nature of retailers' shopping apps lead to regrettable escapism. The flow state of mind experienced during escapism, becoming engrossed and notions of time-distortion, leave consumers with feelings of guilt and frustration due to the perceived wasted time spent on the retailer's app. Accordingly, this study advances theoretical understanding of escapism and its negative effects with ubiquitous, portable smartphones. The research provides implications for retailers and policy makers, while offering avenues for future research.     

Market segmentation

Market segmentation is a crucial marketing strategy. Its aim is to identify and delineate market segments or “sets of buyers” which would then become targets for the company's marketing plans. The advantage to marketing management is that this technique divides total demand into relatively homogeneous segments which are identified by some common characteristics. These characteristics are relevant in explaining and in predicting the response of consumers, in a given segment, to marketing stimuli.

The market can be subdivided by geographic, demographic, psychological, psycho‐graphic or behavioural variables. The advantages and disadvantages of each of these types of segmentation variables are discussed in detail in this paper. Kotier (1984) has identified four requirements that a marketer can use in evaluating the desirability of potential market segments, namely measureability, accessibility, substantiality and actionability. Once a segment has been identified which meets these requirements, it is possible to develop a product or service which meets the unfulfilled needs of this segment. A marketing mix can then be devised to reach the segment identified economically and efficiently. A strategy of market segmentation attempts to regain some of the benefits of the closer association with customers which was the strength of traditional business operations.     

Loyalty Formation for Different Customer Journey Segments

The proliferation of new touchpoints empowers today’s customers to design their own journey from search to purchase. To address this new complexity, we segment customers by their use of specific touchpoints in the customer journey, investigate the association of several covariates with segment membership, consider the rise of mobile devices as potential “game changers” of existing segments, and explore how the relationships among product satisfaction, journey satisfaction, customer inspiration, and customer loyalty differ across segments. Based on anticipated utility theory and using latent class analyses on large-scale data from two samples of 2,443 and 2,649 journeys, we identify five time-consistent segments―store-focused shoppers, pragmatic online shoppers, extensive online shoppers, multiple touchpoint shoppers, and online-to-offline shoppers―that differ considerably in their touchpoint and mobile device usage, their segment-specific covariates, and their search and purchase patterns. The five segments remain unchanged in the two data sets even though the usage of mobile devices has increased substantially. Furthermore, we find that the relationships between various loyalty antecedents and customer loyalty differ between the segments. The insights from this paper help retailers develop segment-specific customer journey strategies.     

Enjoyment and social influence: predicting mobile payment adoption

Models of technology adoption, notably the Technology Acceptance Model and the Unified Theories of Acceptance and Use of Technology, provide good theoretical foundations for understanding mobile payment adoption. This study extends these frameworks by incorporating perceived enjoyment, social influence, knowledge and perceived risk. Replications of established theories are tested in a new context of young people's adoption of mobile payment. Subsequent hypotheses test an extended theoretical framework using an online survey (N?=?316). The extended model improves previous models by explaining 62% of variation in intention to use. Against expectations, perceived ease of use had no significant effect on perceived usefulness and intention to use. The study contributes to advancing understanding of perceived enjoyment which had no direct effect on adoption intention but a significant effect on perceived ease of use and usefulness. Social influence reduces perceived risk, and further contribution is made by noting that perceived enjoyment lowers perceived risk.