Omnichannel retailing and its impact on customer experience and loyalty

EXTENDED ABSTRACT
Introduction:In recent years, omni-channel retailing has attracted the attention of researchers and marketing experts. But the effects and results have not been addressed. 76% of businesses are moving towards an omni-channel strategy and make it their business priority. Omnichannel is defined as the management of existing channels and consumer contact points, in such a way that his experience is optimized in all channels. Unlike multi-channel retailing, an omni-channel strategy integrates multiple channels to create a seamless experience for the consumer. Service integration is an integral part of omni-channel retailing, a sign of success in moving from a multi-channel to an omni-channel strategy. To use the omni-channel strategy, it is necessary for retailers to coordinate and synergize between different channels to eliminate friction between channels and create an integrated system. Although previous studies show that omnichannel retailing has a positive effect on consumer behavior, how service integration affects consumer loyalty is still unclear. In this research, two important components of consumer experience, i.e. flow and perceived privacy risk, are considered as mediating elements in the relationship between service integration and customer loyalty. Flow is a positive psychological state of being immersed in an activity, and perceived risk is made up of privacy concerns, which is a negative aspect. Both of these components are related to integration, which is the main and vital element of omni-channel retailing. Therefore, in this research, it provides the possibility to understand different aspects of the omni-channel consumer experience. Both academia and industry have recognized that the quality of experience is a key element influencing consumer purchase intent and determines omnichannel business success. Therefore, it is essential for companies to understand the expectations of customers from the omni-channel experience and provide appropriate services to consumers. The studies conducted on the omnichannel shopping experience are often descriptive, while more theoretical efforts are needed to explore how the quality of the experience affects the purchase intention of omnichannel consumers. Therefore, this research has been conducted to investigate the effect of service stability and transparency on customer experience and loyalty in omni-channel retailing. In explaining the existing relationships and hypotheses, two flow theories and hyperbolic discounting were used and a conceptual model was obtained.
Methodology: This research, in terms of purpose: descriptive; Orientation: practical; Strategy: Navigation; Research method: quantitative; Time domain: single segment and data collection method: questionnaire. Considering that the size of the population was unknown, Morgan's table was used to determine the sample size, and the number of 389 people was obtained. Also, simple random sampling method was used. In this study, in order to prepare the final questionnaire to measure the variables of service stability and service transparency from Lee et al.'s (2019) article, to measure the flow variable from Hamilton et al.'s (2016) article, to measure the perceived privacy risk variable from the article Kukarkini and Clouse (2010), to measure loyalty, Baker et al.'s (2002) article and a five-point Likert scale were used for all cases. Based on the purpose of the research, it was necessary to choose a retail store that uses an omni-channel strategy. Therefore, Digikala was chosen as the largest retail store in Iran for this research. Because not only does the company provide products and services to consumers through its own application and website, but Digikala has provided conditions in its in-person store where customers can experience the desired product closely before purchasing. From consulting, through the kiosks installed in the store, make their purchases from the Digikala site. When users log in to any platform, their shopping cart is updated (integration feature) and brings an experience for customers to make their purchases in any way that is most convenient for them. The statistical population of this research is Digikala users. Then the online questionnaire was sent to the target audience. In order to analyze the data and test the research hypotheses, the methods of inferential statistics, structural equation modeling and model fit were used. Also, SmartPLS software has been used to check the research hypotheses during two stages of checking the fit of the research model and then testing the hypotheses.
Discussion and Results: The results showed that 40.4% of these audiences are men and 59.6% are women. The significant number related to the relationships between the variables is all greater than the absolute value of 1.96, therefore, the research hypotheses can be confirmed with 95% confidence. In other words, service consistency has a positive and significant effect of 0.88% on the flow service consistency has a negative and significant effect of 0.26% on the perceived privacy risk, service transparency has a positive effect of 0.12% on the flow and It is significant, service transparency has a negative and significant effect of 0.72% on the perceived privacy risk, the flow of 16% has a positive and significant effect on consumer loyalty, the perceived privacy risk has an 82% effect on consumer loyalty. It has a negative and significant effect.
Conclusion: Our findings in this research emphasize the importance of channel security to create consumer experience and loyalty and provide suggestions for the development and management of omni-channel retailing (channel security). Service integration in channel security helps retailers improve the consumer experience across channels. It is suggested that omni-channel retailers ensure the consistency and transparency of services in their various channels to bring a positive shopping experience to consumers. They should try to maintain the coherence and compatibility of services and information among their different channels, and their offers and services should be available and coordinated simultaneously in each channel and at any time. On the other hand, the consumer should know which service or channel can be accessed and used. To increase consumer awareness of available channels through accurate and attractive retail information and advice. An omnichannel strategy can reduce consumer privacy risks. Access to consumers' personal information leads to personalization of relationships, but raises privacy concerns and can negatively impact the consumer experience, which retailers can mitigate with service integration. Also, service integration by flow and perceived privacy risk affect consumer loyalty, retailers must manage consumer experience in order to expand their relationships with consumers and create loyalty. With the attractive and entertaining design of their channels, they fully engage the audience in activities and actions to influence their loyalty.