Consumer responses to mobile coupons: The roles of shopping motivation and regulatory fit

Retailers increasingly use mobile coupon services to deliver promotional offers to consumers. This paper draws on the theory of regulatory focus to explain mobile coupon redemption. The paper proposes that redemption depends on the extent to which a mobile coupon requires consumers to divert from their focal shopping motivation. Regulatory fit, the perception of receiving an offer that is relevant to consumers' regulatory goals, mediates this divergence effect, but only for utilitarian shoppers. Results from two scenario experiments support the main hypothesis and show that utilitarian shoppers perceive greater regulatory fit when an offer is compatible with their focal shopping motivation. In contrast, hedonic shoppers perceive no difference in regulatory fit when an offer diverts them from their focal shopping motivation. This explains why hedonic shoppers redeem a wider variety of offers than utilitarian shoppers and why utilitarian shoppers require more personalization to generate coupon redemption.     

Entertainment in retailing: The influences of advanced technologies

In recent years, the importance of an enjoyable experience during the shopping activity increased. As a consequence, many researchers are focusing on the best application of enjoyable elements in the points of sale in order to maintain existing consumers and attract new ones.The aim of this paper is to analyze how the introduction of advanced technologies modifies the retailing context and affects consumers shopping experience. In particular, three aspects of our results emerge from a theoretical standpoint: new advantages for retailers (the possibility to achieve fast information on consumer behavior and preferences); the improvement of the point of sale; and the positive influences on consumers shopping experience.     

Smartphones and the reconfiguration of retailscapes: Stores,shopping, and digitalization

The aim of this paper is to examine and conceptualize how the integration of smartphones is reconfiguring the retailscapes of stores and the implications that this has for retailers and consumers. Departing from an understanding of retailscapes as socio-material assemblages and drawing on an ethnographic study of mobile shopping, this paper shows how the integration of smartphones into the activities of in-store shopping is reconfiguring how store space is enacted. The integration of this digital device reorganizes the activities of shopping, and new informationscapes, socialscapes, and experiencescapes unfold as a result. In the process, stores are reconfigured, agencies change, and the relationship between consumers and retailers is remade.     

Comparison of Canadian and Mexican Students' Online Shopping Behavior

A survey of 100 Canadian and 100 Mexican business students reveals that the two groups' achievement motivation, Rokeach terminal and instrumental values, and their online behavior is quite different from each other. Canadians buy more books from online shops and believe that mobile phones will be used in the future to make online purchases. Mexicans are more positive about online shopping from existing stores, with greater appreciation for making purchases without face-to-face contact. They are also more mistrustful of new online shops. Mexicans favor massive advertising and promotions and Canadians favor competitive prices and discounts.     

Mobile marketing: A literature review on its value for consumers and retailers

The article describes the existing knowledge of how mobile marketing can increase the value for consumers and retailers. Mobile device shopping, and consumers' use of mobile devices while shopping is shown to be both an extension of consumers' shopping behaviours developed on Internet-connected desktop and laptop computers (PC), and potentially new behaviours based on a mobile devices' uniquely integrated features such as camera, scanners and GPS. The article focuses on how mobile marketing creates value for consumers and retailers, enabling more precise research and development of managerial concepts and tools while providing both managers and academics with increased understanding of mobile marketing and its value outcomes for retailers.     

Are there peas in a pod when considering mobile phone and mobile applications use: A quantitative study

Despite the acknowledgement of the significance of income, affordability and cultural factors in using mobile phones research, there are few studies on how these factors affect females' use of mobile technology. Hence, this paper aims to expand knowledge on female consumers' use of mobile phones and mobile applications in developing countries. It develops a model based on combining the extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology and the cultural influence model. Multi-stage cluster sampling was used to distribute hard copy questionnaires in Jordanian, Iraqi and UAE households led to 629 replies from female consumers. The results indicated that although income is an important factor, cost is not the highest barrier for females. Culture, society, national IT development and inclusive policies play a key role. This study contributes to existing literature by proposing a new integrated model acknowledging the role of income for females’ use of mobile phones.     

Adoption of in-store mobile payment: Are perceived risk and convenience the only drivers?

Smartphones are changing the way consumers shop, even in brick-and-mortar settings. This study explores consumers’ adoption of proximity mobile payment technology (p-m-payment), which enables them to pay with their smartphones for purchases in a physical store. With a perceived value perspective, the authors identify utilitarian, hedonic, and social benefits and financial and privacy risks as key drivers. They also investigate differences compared with the drivers of more familiar mobile shopping usages and highlight the role of experience. The paper discusses implications for both mobile and channel research and recommendations to help retailers take advantage of p-m-payment technology.     

Understanding determinants and barriers of mobile shopping adoption using behavioral reasoning theory

Technology has transformed the way retail business is done with leading players shifting to mobile specific platforms. The purpose of this study is to examine the mobile shopping adoption using a novel approach of behavioral reasoning theory, which aims to test the relative influence of reasons for, and importance of reasons against adoption of mobile shopping among Indian consumers. The hypotheses were tested using the representative sample of 237 Indian consumers and analyzing the data using PLS-SEM technique. The findings support that ‘reasons for’ and ‘reasons against’ are prime determinant of attitude and intentions. Among the reasons for, price saving orientation is the major determinant for mobile shopping adoption and among the reasons against, self efficacy is the major determinant against mobile shopping adoption. The findings also confirm that value of “openness to change” significantly influences reasons for adoption and has no impact on reasons against and attitude towards mobile shopping. The findings of this study emphasize the importance of examining both the pro-adoption and anti-adoption factors while developing marketing strategy.     

‘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.     

The influence of social capital through social media: a study of the creation of value in shopping behaviour

When consumers access information from groups through social network sites (SNSs), they develop social capital in the form of bonding and bridging ties with these groups. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of these bonding and bridging behaviours on consumers’ use of the social network information (SNI) gained from SNSs in their purchasing decisions. The study integrates constructs from the Technology Acceptance Model and the concept of flow to examine how these behaviours influence consumers’ perceptions of how useful the SNI is, of how easy the SNI is to use, and how they engage with SNI. The study utilizes structural equation modelling to examine questionnaire data from a random sample of social network users. The findings demonstrate that bonding and bridging ties influence consumers’ perceptions of the usefulness and ease of use of the information provided by SNSs, and therefore influence their use of the information when making shopping decisions. In addition, consumers who access SNI through bonding ties are likely to have flow experiences which further contribute to their use of the information. This study makes a theoretical contribution by expanding knowledge of the social capital influences on consumers’ perceptions of the value of the social media shopping experience.     

Mobile-assisted showroomers: Understanding their purchase journey and personalities

Over the last decade, the retail sector has undergone a dramatic transformation, driven by rapid advances in consumer and retail technologies, an evolution of omnichannel environments, and changing consumers who increasingly use their smartphones inside brick-and-mortar retail stores as personal shopping assistants. In this context, showrooming has become a common practice for omnichannel mobile consumers (Flavián et al., 2020). The present study investigates the under-researched phenomenon of mobile-assisted showrooming behavior. Adopting an exploratory qualitative research approach, 31 semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with consumers in a metropolitan city in Queensland, Australia. The authors propose a shopper journey framework that challenges the sequential consumer decision-making process. Influenced by showrooming predispositions, mobile-assisted showroomers pursue a hybrid product evaluation phase that encapsulates both physical and mobile activities during the brick-and-mortar retail visit. In addition, the research identifies four unique personas of mobile-assisted showroomers. The results contribute to extant literature on omnichannel and showrooming behavior by identifying predispositions, behaviors, and segments of mobile-assisted showroomers. The study provides retailers with new strategies to segment mobile-assisted shoppers more effectively and understand their needs and shopping motivations.     

The EMF uncertainty problem related to mobile phones: where do consumers place their trust?

This paper addresses the uncertainty problem, i.e. cases characterized by lack of knowledge or scientific uncertainty. In such situations, it can be hard for consumers to ‘voice’ or practise consumer power. One field characterized by the uncertainty problem is electromagnetic radiation. An explicit goal of this study has been to articulate Norwegian consumers' practices, attitudes and beliefs regarding electromagnetic radiation from mobile phones to public authorities and consumer policy makers. The study was based on 1000 telephone interviews collected in 2008. Today, experts disagree on the potential health effects of radiation from electromagnetic fields (EMF), as well as standards for safe limits of exposure to mobile phones, base stations and wireless telecommunication systems. In addition, complicated technology and extremely rapid product development and diffusion leave consumers' security considerations to their own beliefs and trust. Whether or not electromagnetic radiation from mobile phones constitutes a health hazard will not be addressed in this paper. Rather, it will focus on how consumers react to this situation of uncertainty. The material reveals four main ways in which consumers can solve what we have named the EMF uncertainty problem: the confident and comfortable way, the sceptical and cautious way, the responsible and good citizen way, and finally, the neglecting way. The paper also discusses the precautionary principle related to EMF. Who should be precautionary: the public authorities, the mobile phone industry or the consumers themselves? We believe that a consistent governmental precautionary policy in combination with consumers taking their own precautionary measures is a viable solution. In this way, all consumers would be addressed and aided when navigating this field of uncertainty.     

Consumer normalcy: Understanding the value of shopping through narratives of consumers with visual impairments

This paper extends our understanding of the symbolic and experiential value of shopping. By exploring the narratives of consumers with visual impairments, consumer normalcy is shown to be an important value of shopping implicit in discussions of shopping experiences. The informants often achieve consumer normalcy, which they reveal consists of four dimensions: participating or being-in-the-marketplace (I am here), achieving distinction through the marketplace (I am me), demonstrating competence and control (I am in control), and being perceived as an equal in the marketplace (I belong). The consumer normalcy construct reveals to readers how shopping experiences contribute to identity and the tension between acceptance by others and individual agency. Reality differs between informants, but their collective realities inform how consumers realize their self and consumption aspirations by shopping.     

The Advertising Association's Index of Press Cover Prices

This paper examines the differences between American young consumers and their Korean counterparts’ interests in accepting SMS advertising via their mobile phones. The appeal of using the mobile phone as an advertising medium is its accessibility because it can pinpoint the locations of mobile phone users. The results of the study provide preliminary evidence that consumers’ attitudes and beliefs do have significant positive relationships with intentions to opt in to the new medium. The theoretical model for the study is based on employing the theory of reasoned action as the underlying structure to operationalise the conceptual constructs proposed in the diffusion theory. The study identifies the potential of a new research domain in advertising, presents a conceptual framework for its examination and suggests the importance of constructs under study.     

Inclusive or exclusive? Investigating how retail technology can reduce old consumers’ barriers to shopping

This paper investigates older consumers in-store shopping experiences and the barriers that they face. The aim is to understand how new retail technologies (e.g., interactive in-store displays, self-service tills, robots etc.) can help seniors access satisfying, autonomous retail experiences, helping them to achieve a sense of inclusion in physical retail settings. Drawing upon the social inclusion/exclusion theory and information overload theory, the research employs a qualitative approach based on an inductive design, including face-to-face semi structured interviews with 36 consumers aged 75+. The findings highlight (i) old consumers have scarce interactions with in-store technologies (adding knowledge to motivations literature), (ii) the need to develop new technologies to support these consumers, and (iii) the extent to which these technologies are excluding rather than including old consumers (adding knowledge to the drivers of the field of exclusion). Results provide guidelines for retailers to enhance the sense of inclusion for old consumers through a better usage of new technologies.     

Channels for search and purchase: Does mobile Internet matter?

Recent industry reports indicate that consumers own four digital devices on an average, and switching devices during shopping is the “new normal.” The addition of mobile Internet as a new channel of search and purchase has spurred the adoption of the digital medium, and easy accessibility of the Internet on multiple devices is influencing shopping patterns. A consumer may prefer some channels for search and others for purchase or use a combination of channels to search and purchase simultaneously. As a new channel, it is unclear 1) whether mobile Internet offers greater search or purchase benefits and 2) what type of products are more suitable for mobile Internet search and purchase. In this study, we develop a framework that describes the factors that drive the use of mobile Internet in a multi-channel environment. We test the framework using survey data from a sample of U.S consumers. The main findings from our study indicate that 1) the choice of channel combinations that include mobile relative to other channel combinations increases with an increase in perceived search convenience of mobile channel. 2) in the digital channel, mobile and desktop differ in their utility along search dimensions. The probability of choosing channel combinations that include mobile increases due to search convenience whereas desktop is attractive due to perceived gains of price comparison search; and 3) mobile Internet search increases for consumers searching for utilitarian products. The insights from this study deepen our understanding of how digital media is used in the search-purchase process and have important managerial implications.     

Consumer perceptions of online shopping environments: A gestalt approach

Although Web pages and sites consist of a multitude of individual cues, this paper argues that marketers need a gestalt approach to understand how consumers perceive online shopping environments. Following a systematic review of the literature on categorizations of online shopping environments, this paper develops and tests a gestalt model of consumer perceptions of online shopping environments. The model shows that consumers perceive online shopping environments in terms of their sense‐making and exploratory potential. It encompasses perceptions at the level of both individual pages and the experience consisting of the navigation through a succession of pages accessed during one visit. It also accounts for the informational needs all shoppers possess, reflected in the central role of information in online shopping environments. The model confirms the importance of the three main categories investigated in the literature (ease of understanding, informativeness, and involving qualities), but provides a theoretically grounded explanation of how consumers perceive online shopping environments holistically. It can form a basis from which to envisage organismic and behavioral responses. ©2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

M-atmospherics: From the physical to the digital

This research draws on the stimulus-organism-response framework to explore how traditional, physical atmospheric variables relate to consumers’ internal value responses to the m-shopping experience. Further, this research exposes how fulfillment of consumers’ utilitarian and hedonic values relate to consumers’ experience of flow while shopping and their intentions to return to the m-shopping platform. Findings suggest the stimulus-organism-response framework provides a viable perspective on the design of mobile shopping experiences. Moreover, traditional atmospheric variables influence consumers’ shopping experiences in the mobile context. Theoretical and practical implications are provided.     

Expanding opportunities for online shoppers with disabilities

The Internet promises many opportunities for consumers who shop online. While prior studies identify problems with online access for persons with disabilities, research has not examined whether consumers with disabilities shop online similarly to persons who are not disabled. The study attempts to fill this gap in two unique ways. First, this paper specifically considers the frequency of online shopping, the amount spent, and reasons for shopping online among both disabled and non-disabled persons. In addition, the study groups persons with disabilities into six major categories according to disability type rather than aggregating into one general category. Telephone surveys of 1053 persons reveal both differences and similarities that suggest opportunities for improving online access and developing a richer understanding of the online shopping motivations and needs of persons with disabilities.     

Measuring ease of use of mobile applications in e-commerce retailing from the perspective of consumer online shopping behaviour patterns

Scientifically judging and comparing different mobile e-commerce retailing applications (apps) are essential to increase online shopping efficiency and enhance design for system improvement. In this research, the use of mobile apps in e-commerce retailing is viewed as an information operation process, and distance of information-state transition (DIT) theory is introduced to measure the “convenience” of mobile apps to obtain service information. Thus, a novel DIT-based evaluation method for the ease of use of mobile apps in e-commerce retailing from the perspective of consumer online shopping behaviour patterns is proposed. Three representative Chinese enterprises, namely, Tianmao Mall, Jingdong Mall and Suning Easy-to-buy, are chosen as study objects. Moreover, the corresponding ease-of-use indicators of three mobile apps under typical online shopping behaviour patterns are evaluated quantitatively. Results show that this research has important implications not only for online consumers but also for designers of online shopping systems.