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1 – 10 of 23Liangchao Xue, Christopher J. Parker and Cathy Hart
High-street fashion retail faces an uncertain future because of fluctuating consumer shopping habits. To revive fashion retailers, adopting disruptive technologies such as virtual…
Abstract
Purpose
High-street fashion retail faces an uncertain future because of fluctuating consumer shopping habits. To revive fashion retailers, adopting disruptive technologies such as virtual reality (VR) becomes important to offer highly valued consumer experiences. Yet v-commerce designers still lack sufficient guidance to create effective retail environments. This paper establishes the v-commerce experience that targets fashion consumers’ desire and presents 13 specific design guidelines.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, 22 participants, 20 consumers and two VR developers were interviewed regarding attitudes towards VR, motivation to shop through v-commerce and the moderating variables that influence virtual environment perceptions.
Findings
Consumers expect a vivid shopping environment with authentic product features instead of the more common simulated environment. Hedonically motivated consumers are more open to v-commerce than utilitarian consumers and consumers aged 18–34 years regard interactivity, personalisation and social networking as critical to offer a cost-efficient shopping experience.
Research limitations/implications
This paper explored the ways v-commerce delivers creative experiences to facilitate consumer purchase behaviour, contributing to the high street's regeneration. Yet consumers have too high expectations of lifelike interaction in v-commerce, which is beyond contemporary VR's capabilities. Future research should focus on developing authenticity of v-commerce environments, i.e. vivid interaction with product and people.
Originality/value
This paper establishes the fundamental design rules for v-commerce platforms, enabling designers to create effective retail environments, sympathetic to the consumer's cognitive desires.
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Thomas Chesney, Swee-Hoon Chuah, Angela R. Dobele and Robert Hoffmann
The potential for e-commerce is limited by a trust deficit when traders do not interact in a physical, bricks-and-mortar context. The theory of information richness posits that…
Abstract
Purpose
The potential for e-commerce is limited by a trust deficit when traders do not interact in a physical, bricks-and-mortar context. The theory of information richness posits that equivocal interactions, such as ones requiring trust, can be facilitated through communication media that transmit multiple cues interactively. This study aims to examine the potential of information-rich virtual worlds to reduce this trust deficit compared with more traditional Web-based e-tailing environments.
Design/methodology/approach
Rather than focusing on stated intentions, the authors adopt an experimental approach to measure behaviour. Participants receive performance-related financial incentives to perform trust games in different information-rich treatments that represent three retail environments: a physical environment representing bricks-and-mortar trade, an electronic environment representing Web-based online retailing and a virtual environment representing virtual world retail.
Findings
The authors find that the two dimensions of trust significantly differ between the treatments. In particular, as hypothesised, both trustingness and trustworthiness are higher in the virtual than in the electronic environment. However, contrary to the hypotheses, physical trade is not associated with greater trust than virtual trade.
Research limitations/implications
The authors extend previous research by demonstrating how the information richness of the virtual world interface can promote e-commerce by deepening trust between trading partners. This research also complements existing work that approaches product and service interfaces through the lens of servicescapes.
Practical implications
The findings also contribute towards the development of services marketing practice and the design of e-commerce environments.
Originality/value
Much of the work in this space considers purchase intentions and attitudes around trust, whereas this study looks at actual trust behaviour in the virtual space.
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Amira Berriche, Christophe Benavent and Efthymios Constantinides
This paper aims to categorize users of voice assistants and analyze decision-making conflicts to predict intention to adopt voice commerce (v-commerce).
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to categorize users of voice assistants and analyze decision-making conflicts to predict intention to adopt voice commerce (v-commerce).
Design/methodology/approach
This exploratory study used expert survey-based data collection founded on data saturation.
Findings
This study identifies three forms of voice systems based on senses aroused (screen first, voice only and voice first) and four profiles of voice users (passive resistant, hedonistic adopter, utilitarian adopter and active resistant), each with a different appraisal of the benefits and costs of v-commerce adoption and the experiences (positive or negative) felt during the shopping experience. This study proposes a conceptual model to predict intention to adopt v-commerce depending on voice-system and -user characteristics.
Practical implications
Learning from this study can help improve the marketing strategies and actions put in place by voice-assistant brands and advertisers by providing insights for adapting product recommendation algorithms to meet the needs of the identified profiles.
Originality/value
This paper provides an answer to the limits of classical approaches based on “one-size-fits-all” strategy by showing how voice-assistant users have different profiles that span a gradient of advance in technology adoption.
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Keywords
The pandemic sped up the expansion of e-commerce worldwide. However, growth rates are now reverting from 26% in 2020 and 19% in 2021 towards rates closer to 10%. Shoppers still…
Details
DOI: 10.1108/OXAN-DB268281
ISSN: 2633-304X
Keywords
Geographic
Topical
Chanmi Hwang, Byoungho Jin, Linfeng Song and Jing Feng
The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that influence older adults' intention to use virtual fitting room technology during the COVID-19 pandemic based on the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that influence older adults' intention to use virtual fitting room technology during the COVID-19 pandemic based on the extended technology acceptance model (TAM).
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey was conducted with a sample of older adults from 60 to 90 years old (n = 819). A structural equation modeling was conducted to test a proposed research model.
Findings
The results revealed that older adults' behavioral intentions were positively influenced by perceived usefulness and ease of use, and fear of infection during the pandemic was significantly related to the perceived usefulness. Fit concern was not significantly related to perceived usefulness of virtual fitting room technology.
Originality
This research extends the TAM by adding antecedents to perceived usefulness in explaining older adults' adoption of virtual fitting technology.
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Michael D. Clemes, Christopher Gan and Dongmei Zhang
There is intense competition and increasing globalisation in financial markets. Bank management must develop customer‐oriented strategies in order to compete successfully in the…
Abstract
Purpose
There is intense competition and increasing globalisation in financial markets. Bank management must develop customer‐oriented strategies in order to compete successfully in the competitive retail banking environment. The longer a bank can retain a customer, the greater revenue and cost savings from that customer. China's accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has resulted in the liberalisation and deregulation of China's financial services market. Chinese customers now have greater choices between domestic and foreign banks. This study aims to identify and analyse the factors that influence bank customers' switching behaviour in the Chinese retail banking industry.
Design/methodology/approach
The data for this analysis was obtained using a convenience sample of 421 bank customers in Jiaozuo City, Henan Province, China. The decision to switch banks is hypothesised to be a function of price, reputation, service quality, effective advertising competition, involuntary switching, distance, switching costs, distance, and demographic characteristics. Factor analysis and logistic regression are used to analyse the data and identify and rank the factors that impact on the bank switching behaviour of customers.
Findings
The research findings reveal that price, reputation, service quality, effective advertising, involuntary switching, distance, and switching costs impact on customers' bank switching behaviour. The findings also reveal that the young and high‐income groups are more likely to switch banks.
Practical implications
The results of this research allow service marketers and practitioners to develop and implement service marketing strategies to decrease customer defection rates, and in turn, increase bank profits. Furthermore, this research provides useful information for future researchers investigating customer switching behaviour in the retail banking industry.
Originality/value
This paper provides an empirical analysis of Chinese bank switching behaviour and provides a framework for future studies on the behaviour of bank customers.
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Develops an original 12‐step management of technology protocol and applies it to 51 applications which range from Du Pont’s failure in Nylon to the Single Online Trade Exchange…
Abstract
Develops an original 12‐step management of technology protocol and applies it to 51 applications which range from Du Pont’s failure in Nylon to the Single Online Trade Exchange for Auto Parts procurement by GM, Ford, Daimler‐Chrysler and Renault‐Nissan. Provides many case studies with regards to the adoption of technology and describes seven chief technology officer characteristics. Discusses common errors when companies invest in technology and considers the probabilities of success. Provides 175 questions and answers to reinforce the concepts introduced. States that this substantial journal is aimed primarily at the present and potential chief technology officer to assist their survival and success in national and international markets.
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Pallavi Dogra, Arun Kumar Kaushik, Prateek Kalia and Arun Kaushal
Digital technologies emerged as innovative avenues for launching new products, advertising brands, increasing customer awareness and thus leaving a remarkable impact on the online…
Abstract
Purpose
Digital technologies emerged as innovative avenues for launching new products, advertising brands, increasing customer awareness and thus leaving a remarkable impact on the online marketplace. The present study analyzed the effects of crucial antecedents of AR interactive technology on customers' behavior toward AR-based e-commerce websites.
Design/methodology/approach
Convenience sampling was used to collect primary data from 357 iGen respondents aged 16–22 years; residing in New Delhi and the NCR region of India and examined using the structural equation modeling technique.
Findings
Results revealed that technology anxiety and virtuality significantly influence customers' attitudes and behavioral intentions toward AR-based e-commerce websites. However, interactivity and innovativeness remain non-significant. Additionally, non-significant moderating effects were identified for the moderators, i.e. trust and need for touch. At the same time, gender has a significant moderating effect only for the association between technology anxiety and attitude toward AR-based e-commerce websites.
Research limitations/implications
The study summarizes numerous theoretical and managerial implications for AR-based website designers and policymakers, followed by the crucial limitations and directions for future research.
Originality/value
The present research provides a significant understanding of the e-commerce industry by providing valuable insights about young iGen consumers' perceptions of AR-based e-commerce websites.
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Juanjuan Wu, Bo Ra Joo, Ahmad Saquib Sina, Sanga Song and Claire Haesung Whang
The authors conducted an action research study with the aim of understanding current commercial offerings in modular designs in virtual environments and to explore modularity…
Abstract
Purpose
The authors conducted an action research study with the aim of understanding current commercial offerings in modular designs in virtual environments and to explore modularity development based on consumer input for the purpose of personalizing three-dimensional (3D) virtual fashion stores.
Design/methodology/approach
Through five phases of diagnosing, action planning, action taking, evaluating and specifying learning, the authors attempted to diagnose the current commercial offerings of modular designs in virtual spaces and to identify the right type and the number of modules and modular options for personalizing 3D virtual stores based on consumers' actual designs and focus group input. The authors then further conceptualized modules to serve as an example for developing modularity in 3D virtual reality (VR) stores.
Findings
In the diagnosing phase, the authors investigated the modularity structure of cocreating a retail store in two popular virtual worlds: Second Life and The Sims 4. In the evaluation phase, the authors identified modules and modular options for personalizing 3D virtual stores based on a content analysis of consumers' post-design focus group discussions. In the last phase (specifying learning), the authors conceptualized a total of nine modules and 38 modular options for personalizing 3D virtual stores, including style, price point, product category, color, presence of avatar, virtual product try-on, music, product recommendation and product customization.
Originality/value
The significance of this study lies in the pioneering methodological work of identifying, creating and visualizing 3D VR modular store options based on consumer input and in improving the authors’ understanding of current commercial offerings. This study also enriches design theories on cocreation systems. The authors’ suggested modules for personalizing 3D virtual stores could inspire future evidence-based designs to be readily used by VR retailers as well extend the application of mass customization theory from the realm of product development to retail environments.
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Ioannis Krasonikolakis and Nancy Pouloudi
The purpose of this paper is twofold: to provide an overview of related studies and to highlight research gaps and questions that need to be addressed. Research conducted in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold: to provide an overview of related studies and to highlight research gaps and questions that need to be addressed. Research conducted in three-dimensional (3D) online environments constitutes a different research context, not least because it involves the recruitment of avatars in the research process. Researchers need to appreciate better the ethical concerns that arise in this novel, fast-evolving context and how these concern different stakeholders.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper employs an interdisciplinary desk-research approach. It critically reviews related literature, highlights the involved stakeholders, discusses ethical issues from a marketing research perspective and concludes with a discussion of related studies and research gaps, providing direct future research avenues.
Findings
The characteristics of the 3D online environments and the behaviour and experiences of their users set the boundaries and guide the way regarding the ethical research in this context.
Research limitations/implications
The paper does not present primary empirical results, instead it reviews and critiques related literature in 3D online environments and sets the agenda for future research.
Practical implications
The paper provides ethical guidelines and identifies blurred areas in conducting or participating in research in 3D online environments.
Originality/value
Based on earlier studies and examples of ethical concerns when studying 3D online environments, this paper emphasises the parameters that should be taken into consideration in current and future research studies.
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