Investigating the effect of customer experience of online shopping on repurchase intention among Digikala customers across Iran

Introduction: Online shopping has changed the way some people do shopping and has become a major part of their lives, but this type of shopping has challenges that can be caused by a variety of factors. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of customers’ experience of online shopping on their intention to buy again with satisfaction in digital goods stores in Iran. This research is adescriptive-survey in terms of method.
Methodology: The present study is applied in terms of its objective because the expected results can be used to improve the customer experience of the intention to shop online. In other words, in this study, using the cognitive context and the information provided by prior research works, suggestions are made to enhance the investigated metrics including customer experience of online shopping, repurchase intention, customer satisfaction, and confidence. The level of analysis in this study is individual, so the research population consists of all the customers who have had online purchases from the Digikala website. The cases have been selected through simple random sampling. There are several methods used to determine the sample size, including the Cochrane formula for an unknown population, which specifies the minimum sample size. With the 95% confidence level and the accuracy of 0.05, the sample size was eventually 384 users who took electronic questionnaires. Due to the low return coefficient of the electronic questionnaires, 600 questionnaires were designed as a text file in the MS Word format. Then, they were sent to the respondents as an attachment. Ultimately, 384 questionnaires were completed and returned.
Results and Discussion: Based on the calculations as well as the data from the tables, for the first hypothesis with a path coefficient (regression coefficient) of 0.406 and a critical value above 6.425 at the 95% confidence level, CE has a positive and significant impact on the repurchase intention of Digikala customers. Therefore, Digikala will be successful if it pays attention to the experiences of customers (i.e., behavioral, communicative, emotional, cognitive and emotional values) and creates a platform for an emotional and memorable positive experience in any interaction with organization. This is because customer experiences are private events that occur or are triggered as a result of encountering different shopping situations. In short, Digikala must consider CE as a tool to create lasting competitive advantage in order to make customers loyal and increase their repurchase.
Based on the second hypothesis, it can be concluded that CE with a path coefficient (regression coefficient) of 0.592 and a critical value above 9.296 at a confidence level of 95% has a positive and significant effect on the satisfaction of Digikala customers. That is, Digikala store must make efforts to enhance the customer-organization interactions across customer and organization points of contact. This is because the continued customer experience management, in addition to a lasting competitive advantage for the organization, creates memorable and rewarding moments for customers. Managers of Digikala online store should not forget that customers have a variety of needs that are satisfied with their experience. In short, CE as a fascinating factor is shared between the creator and the customer himself, just where the customer understands and remembers the values.
It was hypothesized that the frequency of repurchase and the return of customers to the store make a good competitive advantage. This is because companies believe that customers return to the store when they feel successful in their previous shopping experiences. This is while, in online stores, fewer customers wish to return and, more importantly, repurchase from that store; there are few stores paying attention to customers' needs. On the other hand, factors such as failure to update products and information, search for information, low variation in products and services, and false information about products and services have adversely affected customers' expectations in their first visit to the store, thus reducing their satisfaction.
Based on the research data and the statistics in hypothesis 4, CE with a path coefficient (regression coefficient) of 0.321 and a critical value above 5.651 at the 95% confidence level has a direct role of trust and a positive and significant impact on the repurchase intention of Digikala customers. That is, the moderating variable of confidence can have far greater direct effects on the repurchase intention of Digikala online store customers.
The data also showed that CE with a path coefficient (regression coefficient) of 0.427 and a critical value above 7.593 with an indirect role of satisfaction has a significant positive effect on the repurchase intention of Digikala customers. That is, the mediating variable of satisfaction can have a far greater indirect impact on the repurchase intention of Digikala customers. As a result, by increasing the CE efficiency through the satisfaction variable, we can have a better impact on the repurchase intention, regardless of the impact of customer satisfaction.
Conclusion: Customer satisfaction is one of the important dimensions in maintaining customers. As a result, by increasing CE through confidence, we can enhance the repurchase intention, regardless of the impact of customer trust. Long-term profitability is just achieved by customer’s repurchasing. Companies can maintain their customers at a lower cost than attracting new customers.