0000000000712450
AUTHOR
Matilda Holkkola
How Do QR Codes Enhance Customer Experience? : Omnichannel Customer Experiences in a Brick-and-Mortar Fashion Store
In this qualitative study, we investigate how customers perceive QR codes enhancing their customer experience (CX) in the brick-and-mortar (B&M) store environment. Introducing QR codes to B&M stores is a part of the larger phenomenon of retailers creating omnichannel CXs by utilizing digital and cyber-physical elements in B&M stores. To collect data from real customers’ CXs, we displayed QR codes in a Finnish fashion brand’s B&M store and interviewed customers who had authentically visited the store. The QR codes displayed in the store were linked to a product information page on the brand’s online store, a brand ambassador’s Instagram posts, and an online survey. The data consist of 15 ind…
The Cross-Channel Effects of In-Store Customer Experience in the Case of Omnichannel Fashion Retailing in Finland
Although omnichannel retailing has emerged as a popular research topic in academic research, there are still gaps in our understanding of this phenomenon. One such gap concerns omnichannel customer experience and particularly the cross-channel or spillover effects of how customer experience in one channel may affect customer behaviour not only in that specific channel but also in the other channels of the same retailer. In this study, we aim to address this gap by examining how customer experience in the offline channel affects customer behaviour in both the offline and the online channel, more specifically how in-store customer experience affects both brick-and-mortar store and online stor…
The Role of Social Media in the Creation of Young People’s Consumer Identities
This article explores how young people construct and express their consumer identities via their consumption styles on social media. The importance of commercial content on social media, such as the postings of social media influencers and advertisers, has been increasing during the past years. Framed by theories on social identity, social comparison and consumer socialization, we analysed focus group discussions with 15 to 19-year-old teenagers in Finland ( N = 35). The results reveal that the participants had a clear understanding of their consumer identities: what kind of consumers they were and what they did not want to be. The consumption styles: luxury brand-oriented, trendy second-h…
Who are the Showroomers? Socio-Demographic Factors Behind the Showrooming Behavior on Mobile Devices
This quantitative study focuses on socio-demographic variables and their associations with different forms of showrooming behavior. The purpose of this study is to find which consumer groups based on age, gender, and income level are demographically the most probable showroomers, and how much each of these variables explain showrooming. The data used is a structured online survey from 1,028 Finnish omnichannel consumers aged between 18 and 75 years. We compare the means of demographic groups’ shares on different aspects of showrooming, and then use partial least squares structural equation modeling with confirmatory factor analysis to see how much each of the variables explain showrooming. …
Customers’ QR Code Usage Barriers in a Brick-and-Mortar Store : A Qualitative Study
The purpose of this study is to explore the factors that hinder customers from utilizing QR codes when they visit brick-and-mortar (B&M) stores. The research was conducted at a Finnish fashion retailer, where three types of QR codes were displayed for customers to use. In order to identify the barriers that customers face, two different sets of data were collected and analyzed: open-ended survey data (n = 101) and interview data (n = 16). The findings showed two main categories of barriers,customer and company related, with seven sub-barriers. The customer-related barriers included lack of interest in QR codes, user-related usage issues, desire for a device-free B&M store, and dislike towar…
The role of sustainability in online customer experiences : a qualitative study on female fashion shoppers
This qualitative study aims to understand sustainability’s role in responsible consumers’ Online Customer Experiences (OCEs). In this study, we focus on female fashion shoppers, and study three dimensions of their OCE: cognitive, affective, and social. Although online shopping and responsible consumer behaviour have increased tremendously, sustainability’s role in OCE has not been studied before from the customer’s perspective. The data consists of nine semi-structural interviews of Finnish female self-proclaimed responsible consumers and is analyzed with qualitative content analysis. The findings show that sustainability issues are present in all OCE dimensions, which are also all intercon…