Formation of customer value through channel integration: Modelling the mediating role of cognitive and affective customer experience in the omni channel retail context

Abstract

Technology and the internet have changed the Indian retail industry. To better serve customers, retailers are combining the benefits of physical locations with the vast amount of online information. Omnichannel commerce is a unique sales experience that combines the benefits of real venues with the information-rich experience of internet shopping. Thus, the main goal of this study is to understand how customers use omni-channel, identify the most important factors affecting their customer experiences, and examine how customer experience affects customer value. With the help of 37 item-based questionnaires a quantitative survey was conducted on consumers who had purchased from multichannel retailers at least one time in the past year. Demographics included age, gender, education, and family income. Further structural equation modeling technique was implied on data to analyze how integrated channels affect customers’ value from interactions. The findings indicate that both cognitive and affective customer experience have significant impact on value creation process of customers. However, the customer drew greater value from integrated promotions, product, and price in the presence of cognitive customer experience, whereas information access was more valuable in the presence of affective customer experience. The findings of this study demonstrate the relevance of comparing the effectiveness of various channel integration strategies.