The Role of Telepresence and User Engagement in Co-Creation Value and Purchase Intention: Online Retail Context

Using the technology of three-dimensional (3D) product presentation within online retailing, the current study aims to explore the role of telepresence and its determinants (control, color vividness, and 3D authenticity) in enhancing user engagement, which in turn impacts co-creation value and purchase intention. To test the proposed hypotheses, this research developed a hypothetical online retailer website, which presented a variety of 3D laptops that users could co-create, change the color, and control the content and form of. This research collected the data from Jordanian consumer panel members via online self-administered questionnaires. This research finds that control, color vividness, and 3D authenticity are the main determinants of telepresence. Furthermore, this research finds that telepresence has a positive impact on user engagement, which in turn positively impacts co-creation value and purchase intentions. This research finds that co-creation value impacts purchase intentions. The current findings contribute to the online retailing literature by connecting user engagement with co-creation value, as previous research had focused on one of them but not the link between them.     

The investigation on dimensions of e-satisfaction for online shoes retailing

Purpose—Online retailing has become a standard component in companies' multi-channel structure. This trend also involves an increasing number of experience attribute dominated products, which traditionally rely on brick-and-mortar retailers. These manufacturers have started to open their own online retail stores. This study identifies the key determinants of e-satisfaction at different stages of shoes online shopping process.Design/methodology/approach—We collect consumers' reviews about their online shopping experiences from online review websites. We use both qualitative and quantitative approaches to analyze the dataset, and investigate the complete process of consumers' e-tailing experiences.Findings—this research identifies the two key factors driving e-satisfaction of purchasing experience attribute dominated products online: product selection and customer service. In particular, our findings show that product selection is critical for e-satisfaction in the pre-purchase stage, and that customer service is more important in the post-purchase stage. Lastly, the study finds that manufacturers' websites often receive more negative reviews because of their poor service recovery strategies in the post-purchase period.Research limitations/implications—This study emphasizes the importance of adopting a dynamic approach by considering various stages of the consumer's online shopping experience. This study focuses on one specific experience good; the shoe industry.Practical implications—The results of this study are invaluable to firms interested in providing experience attribute dominated products online. Our findings indicate that product selection and especially post-purchase service are critical for a successful e-tailing.Originality/value—This paper emphasizes the importance of taking a dynamic view to investigate consumer's e-tailing experience. We adopt both qualitative and quantitative approaches in our study.     

Contrasting user generated videos versus brand generated videos in ecommerce

This empirical research (n = 177) compared the impact of user generated videos and brand generated videos on online shopper perceptions, attitudes and purchase intentions. The study was guided by the technology acceptance model. Source of videos was a between-subjects factor. The findings indicated that online shoppers did not differentiate between the two video sources when evaluating the perceived usefulness of the videos. Conversely, user generated videos had a significantly greater impact on attitude toward the ad and attitude toward the brand than brand generated videos. Further, there was no significant main effect of video source on shopper purchase intentions. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Positive emotion bias: Role of emotional content from online customer reviews in purchase decisions

Abundant research has investigated the impact of review valence on purchase decisions, but has reported mixed findings. To reconcile these mixed findings, this study unearths the understanding of review valence from the perspective of the emotional content in online customer reviews. To explore the effect of emotional content on purchase decisions and the moderating role of emotional content on non-emotional content and purchase decisions based on a heuristic-systematic model, a laboratory experiment with 106 subjects was used to empirically test the research hypotheses. The results show that pleasant online customer reviews lead to a higher purchase likelihood compared to unpleasant ones. Perceived credibility and perceived diagnosticity have significant influence on purchase decisions, but only in the context of unpleasant online customer reviews. The findings demonstrate positive emotion bias for online customer reviews, and carry important practical implications for both sellers and customers.     

Product Touch and Consumers’ Online and Offline Buying: The Role of Mental Representation

As offline retailers struggle to compete with online ones, the importance of a consumer’s ability to touch a product prior to purchase becomes important to study. Prior research has found inconsistent results on whether product touch facilitates consumers’ product-related decision making. Some studies report a positive effect, whereas others do not. The current research reconciles this inconsistency and draws retailing implications. Across three experiments, we show that the effect of product touch on consumers’ purchase intentions and willingness to pay for a product being evaluated is evident when consumers’ mental representation of the product is concrete, but not when abstract. We further show that perceived risk and perceived ownership simultaneously mediate this moderating effect of mental representation. Implications are drawn for both offline and online retailers.     

“Happy Together”: Effects of Brand Community Engagement on Customer Happiness

Because the pursuit of happiness is fundamental, humans perform a wide range of activities, including consumption, to lead a happy life. For marketers, findings from positive psychology suggest that customer happiness may arise through customer engagement. This article proposes a conceptual framework of customer happiness in brand communities and analyzes the effect of customer engagement on customer happiness, as well as on the ultimate outcomes of word of mouth and purchase intentions. Structural equation modeling provides a test of the model through an empirical study with 518 members from the online brand community for a German automotive brand. Customer engagement exerts a significant positive effect on customer happiness, which in turn increases positive word of mouth and purchase intentions. Therefore, marketing managers should invest in brand communities to engage customers and build and maintain their happiness and loyalty.     

Increase hedonic products purchase intention through livestreaming: The mediating effects of mental imagery quality and customer trust

Although online retailing is applying livestreaming to promote both hedonic and utilitarian products, the differential effectiveness of utilizing this tool across the two types of products is still unclear. With an online experiment, the study found that livestreaming (vs. traditional e-commerce) is more effective in boosting hedonic products while making no difference in increasing purchase intentions of utilitarian products. By running a moderated serial mediation analysis, the research also demonstrated the underlying mechanism that livestreaming could significantly enhance mental imagery quality and customer trust in hedonic rather than utilitarian products. Therefore, our research has discovered an important boundary condition for the livestreaming effect and also the mechanism for the success of utilizing livestreaming to boost hedonic products. Considering the indiscriminate use of livestreaming regardless of product types and the huge amounts of resources required to sustain livestreaming, the study not only provides a theoretical glimpse of where livestreaming is more effective and why, but also practical insights as to how to apply livestreaming to different types of products and how to leverage mental imagery and customer trust to achieve business growth in an online retailing context.     

A comparison of online and offline gender and goal directed shopping online

The aim of this paper is to model the effect of the consumers’ perceptions of their offline and online gendered behaviour on online utilitarian shopping motivation and purchase intentions. We hypothesise that when consumers shop online, their behaviour is mediated by two gendered behaviours, namely offline and online. To test this hypothesis, 515 usable responses were collected in face-to-face interviews. The conceptual model was tested with confirmatory factors analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM) across five product categories. Our findings show that the effect of a consumer's perception of their gendered behaviour offline vs. online on online utilitarian shopping motivation and purchase intentions is significantly different. In particular we found that utilitarian shopping motivation online has a significant effect on purchase intentions online mediated by gender (online) overall: strongly for females but not for males. Conversely, utilitarian shopping motivation online has a significant effect on purchase intentions online mediated by gender (offline) for males but not overall and for females.     

Exploring the involvement-patronage link in the phygital retail experiences

Phygital retail experiences connect physical and digital worlds together to create unique experiences among customers. Despite the widespread uses and applications of phygital retailing, the involvement-patronage link remains unexplored. This paper thus aims to make up this gap by examining the effects of customer involvement on their patronage intentions in the phygital retail context. More specifically, building on the social exchange theory, this paper mainly addresses the effects of five dimensions of involvement on customer engagement; and the influence of customer engagement on their patronage intentions in the phygital retailing. The role of customer innovativeness as a boundary condition is also explored. Data were collected from 237 customers who experienced phygital retail stores and analyzed through structural equation modeling. The results show that five facets of involvement (i.e., risk importance, risk probability, sign, interest, and pleasure) affect customer engagement, which eventually affects customers’ patronage intentions of phygital products. This study further identifies that the effects of each dimension of involvement on customer engagement are higher (lower) among the customers with high (low) innovativeness. The findings of the study offer significant theoretical and managerial implications.     

Bridging the online offline gap: Assessing the impact of brands’ social network content quality on brand awareness and purchase intention

Social media is shaping the way companies and brands engage and interact with consumers, particularly Millennials. In light of this growing trend, this study aims to understand the influence of content quality and brand interactivity within social media on consumers' brand awareness and purchase intentions by proposing an empirical model which is tested using structural equation modeling. The study also explores whether the relation between social media stimuli and offline purchase intention is mediated by hedonic motivation, consumer engagement and brand awareness. Results reveal that the quality of content provided by brands on social media and company-users' interactivity are of major importance to Millennials. They increase the hedonic motive derived by these users from social media, strengthen their online engagement and intensify their brand awareness. This heightened online consumer engagement coupled with an increased online consumer brand awareness leads to an increase in the purchase intention of these brands offline. Consequently, companies are encouraged to invest in producing high-quality content on their social media pages, deploy all possible strategies to enhance brand users’ interactivity given the important role these variables play in entertaining, engaging users online, building brand awareness and influencing their offline purchase intentions.     

Quality of channel integration and customer loyalty in omnichannel retailing: The mediating role of customer engagement and relationship program receptiveness

The aim of this study was to understand how omnichannel integration quality affects customer loyalty through customer engagement and relationship program receptiveness and to verify the relationship between customer engagement and relationship program receptiveness in omnichannel retailing. Data was collected through a questionnaire with 378 available respondents. PLS-SEM was exerted to examine the model. The results disclosed the positive influence of omnichannel integration quality on customer engagement and relationship program receptiveness, which consequently impacted customer loyalty. Also, the positive influence of customer engagement on relationship program receptiveness was proved. Further, the role as mediators of customer engagement and relationship program receptiveness was explored. This study contributed to the omnichannel literature by confirming that psychological and behavioral customer engagement plays a vital role in omnichannel retailing. This study also helped omnichannel retailers understand that providing a seamless, consistent and reassuring environment can facilitate customer engagement and thereby gain customer loyalty.     

Hedonic and utilitarian use of user-generated content on online shopping websites

The Internet has made it possible for consumers to share reviews, opinions, and thoughts about products and services on online shopping websites. This user-generated content (UGC), which can be considered to be part of social commerce, is likely to influence other consumers’ attitudes toward a product and subsequent purchase intentions. The purpose of this study was to investigate two major uses of UGC: hedonic and utilitarian, and how they impact purchase intentions, along with users’ trust for different types of comments and reviews. Also investigated are associations between hedonic use, utilitarian use, and trust, with purchase behavior at online shopping websites. Results of this study will add to the domain knowledge related to marketing and how it impacts consumer psychology and behavior. From a practitioner perspective, marketers need to understand the impact of UGC so they can monitor this method of marketing communication as it can impact trust and purchase intentions.     

The role of product brand image and online store image on perceived risks and online purchase intentions for apparel

Purchase intentions for apparel products often require physical examination prior to purchase. Hence, greater risk is associated with shopping online for apparel products, making it important to examine factors that reduce various risks influencing online purchase intentions. This study examines and compares the impact of two of the most important risk reducers for online apparel shopping – product brand image and online store image – on specific types of perceived risks and online purchase intentions for apparel. The results show that product brand image influences consumers' online purchase intentions both directly and indirectly by reducing various risk perceptions. Online store image impacts purchase intentions indirectly by decreasing risk perceptions. The results of this study provide fresh insight into understanding the impact of product brand image and online store image on each type of perceived risk associated with online shopping.     

E-retail factors for customer activation and retention: An empirical study from Indian e-commerce customers

Customer satisfaction has emerged as one of the most important factors that guarantee the success of online store; it has been posited as a key stimulant of purchase, repurchase intentions and customer loyalty. A comprehensive review of the literature, theories and models have been carried out to propose the models for customer activation and customer retention. Five major factors that contributed to the success of an e-commerce store have been identified as: service quality, system quality, information quality, trust and net benefit. The research furthermore investigated the factors that influence the online customers repeat purchase intention on the basis of the Means End Chain theory (MEC) and Prospect theory. By hypothesising that a combination of both utilitarian value and hedonistic values are needed to affect the repeat purchase intention (loyalty) positively, Structural equation model has been presented on the primary data collected from the Indian online shoppers. Results indicate the e-retail success factors, which are very much critical for customer satisfaction. By increasing the utilitarian value and hedonistic values derived by the customers, customer satisfaction and hence the customers repeat purchase intention can be increased significantly.     

How customer engagement in the live-streaming affects purchase intention and customer acquisition,E-tailer's perspective

In the emerging retail market, e-tailers operating in developing economies have to cope with the rapid use of the Internet, new electronic purchasing methods and online selling platforms. However, e-tailers do not understand the effect patterns in which customer engagement on purchase intention and customer acquisition. From e-tailers’ perspective, this study explores how customer engagement behaviors are related to both purchase intention and customer acquisition. We obtained live streaming data in the mature e-tail live streaming market environment and found empirical evidence supporting the conceptual framework through regression model analysis. The analysis results show that the specific indicators of the customer engagement are not all positively related to customer purchase intention and customer acquisition, and it is worth noting that the influence of “like” behavior on customer acquisition is no statistical significance. This is expected to encourage e-tailers to rethink their focus on customer acquisition and sales enhancement digital strategies as they operate in emerging markets.     

Examining the gamified effect of the blindbox design: The moderating role of price

A blindbox is a product design that incorporates uncertainty; a customer who purchases a blindbox receives a random product from a product series. The recent popularity of blindbox products calls for a rigorous examination of this product design. This study proposes a research model to examine the blindbox effects in an online retailing context. Following the uncertainty principle of gamification marketing, we hypothesize that the blindbox design can induce gameful experiences, thereby increasing customers’ brand engagement and purchase intention. We also investigate the moderation effect of an important design factor: the product price. Data from two experiments support the blindbox effects: this design leads to higher gameful experiences and marketing outcomes than a certain product. Moreover, the blindbox effects largely depend on the price: the effects are more salient at a premium price level and diminish below the average market price. Furthermore, we rule out two rival explanations, novelty and presentation richness, through supplementary tests. The findings, design issues, contributions, and directions for future research are discussed.     

Online customer service and retail type-product congruence

This study investigates how various elements of customer service affect the behavioral intention to shop at the online or the offline store for different product categories. We focus on the perceived value, trust, interface, empathy, and offline presence as the dimensions of the customer service for the retail store (online or offline). Using 317 respondents from the online stores’ users, this study finds that perceived value is the strongest predictor for future intention to shop at online stores, whereas offline presence of an online store did not enhance the future intention to shop at online stores. Other dimensions such as enhanced trust and ease of interface strengthen the intention to purchase at the offline stores. Finally, perceived value and empathy associated with online stores harm the offline stores. In synch with the Theory of Congruence, this study supports the notion that the perceived congruence between product type and retail store type affect their intention to purchase certain product categories at the online stores and to purchase other groups of product categories at offline stores. Further ramifications of these findings are discussed in the paper.     

Perceived helpfulness of eWOM: Emotions,fairness and rationality

Consumers use online reviews to help make informed purchase decisions. This paper extends existing research by examining how content of online reviews influences perceptions of helpfulness by demonstrating how different emotions can influence helpfulness of both product and service online reviews beyond a valence-based approach using cognitive appraisal theory and attribution theory. This research contributes to existing knowledge regarding the theory of information processing, attribution theory, and cognitive appraisal theory of emotions. Using findings from this study, practitioners can make review websites more user-friendly which will help readers avoid information overload and make more informed purchase decisions.