Why Do Customers Use Smartphones for Shopping in Omnichannel Environments? A Conceptual Extension of a Special Relationship Between Customers and Devices
Journal Title: Journal of Emerging Trends in Marketing and Management - Year 2016, Vol 0, Issue 1
Abstract
The proliferation of smartphones, tablet computers and mobile internet is influencing the evolution of customer behaviour. Retail and industry are increasingly catering for customers who use more and more technologies within their demand journey. Some suppliers distribute their goods and services, and communicate, in omnichannel systems. Technologies such as quick-response code, near-field communication, augmented reality and beacons provide new opportunities for the incorporation of various phases of the demand process. The internet complements and enables a functional networking of different marketing channels. Technological-trend monitoring is now an important management task, as is the design of omnichannel systems that allow buyers a problem-free shopping experience across multiple marketing channels. Numerous papers and studies focus on customers’ acceptance of – and willingness to use – smartphones. But how can different levels of acceptance and willingness be explained? Why do customers see smartphones as playing such an important role in their everyday lives? The purpose of this conceptual paper is to broaden and deepen the understanding of customer behaviour with regard to smartphones in an omnichannel environment. This paper develops a framework that focusses on the relationship between customers and smartphones in the context of omnichannel systems. Several theoretical approaches – such as the extended self, the extended mind, the digital doppelgänger, actor–network theory and the cyborg assemblage are used to derive hypothetical constructs providing implications for future empirical studies. We suggest five active roles for smartphones within the relationships with customers: (1) parts of the customers’ selves; (2) drivers of cognitive processes; (3) supporters of digital doppelgängers; (4) agents for active impulses; and (5) partners in fusions. We assume that these five roles of smartphones have a positive effect on customers’ willingness to use smartphones as shopping companions in bricks-and-mortar retail stores.
Authors and Affiliations
Stephan Kull, Philipp Hübner
Keywords
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