Creating the right customer experience online: The influence of culture |
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| Authors: | Saeed Shobeiri Ebrahim Mazaheri Michel Laroche |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Marketing, University de Sherbrooke, 2500, boul. de l'University, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada, J1K 2R1;2. School of Commerce and Administration, Laurentian University, Unit 2 &3. 3, 130 Bell Farm Rd, Barrie, Ontario, L4M 5G6;4. Department of Marketing, John Molson School of Business, Concordia University, 1455 de Maisonneuve West, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3G 1M8 |
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| Abstract: | The effective role of experiential marketing in the differentiation of brands has been documented in both traditional and online services. The digital context of e-retailing makes it both a suitable platform for experiential consumption and an easily accessible shopping method across cultures. In spite of this, investigation of the impacts of cultural differences on the desire for experiential benefits has been very limited in the e-retailing literature. Using Hofstede's (2001) cultural dimensions, this article studies how two student samples of North American and Chinese customers react differently to the experiential values offered on the websites of e-retailing services. The findings support our hypotheses and suggest that offering experiential values on a company's website is more influential for North American than for Chinese customers. More specifically, the influences of experiential values on site involvement and customers' patronage intentions are stronger for North Americans than for Chinese visitors. On the other hand, the impacts of site involvement on site attitudes and the influence of site attitudes on patronage intentions are stronger for Chinese compared with North American customers. |
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| Keywords: | experiential values culture e-retailer site involvement site attitude patronage intentions |
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