Consumer retention through phygital experience in omnichannel retailing: role of consumer empowerment and satisfaction

Abstract

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to understand the mechanism through which cross-channel integration (i.e., both physical and digital) influences consumer retention. The study uses the stimulus-organism-response model framework, which conceptualizes how cross-channel integration influences consumers’ feelings of empowerment and satisfaction that stimulate their retention behavior. The study also explores the impact of a retailer’s unreliability on a consumer’s phygital experience in retailing. Data were collected through an online questionnaire survey (n = 427) and analyzed using SPSS AMOS 25 and PROCESS Macros. The findings suggest that cross-channel integration helps in consumer retention. Consumers’ relationship with the retailer gets strengthened because consumers feel empowered and satisfied with the product/service being rendered. Importantly, this study is possibly among the first to explore how channel integration in retailing can impact the consumers’ phygital experience, and in the process, influence their long-term association with retailers.