Abstract
Drawing on expectation disconfirmation theory, this study explores the dyadic nature of omni-channel consistency on customer experience. Specifically, we propose a conceptual model that focuses on a brand’s offline channel customer experience relative to that of its online channel, and test the influences of customer experience (in)consistency on customer satisfaction, which then improves repurchase intention and word-of-mouth. The results of polynomial regressions on 265 survey respondents indicate that given omni-channel customer experience inconsistency, customers prefer consistent online and offline experiences. For omni-channel consistency at lower levels of customer experience quality, customers prefer consistency at higher levels of quality. For omni-channel inconsistency where offline customer experience quality is lower than that online, customers prefer omni-channel inconsistency, where offline customer experience quality is higher than that online. These findings produce not only theoretical contributions but also insightful suggestions for how customer experience can be taken into consideration in the promotion of a brand’s omni-channel service success.
Highlights
The traditional e-commerce business model becomes commoditized, and digital attackers are experimenting with new retail models in which the typical customer journey is likely to be a mix of offline and online, or omni-channel [1,2,3]
As the result of Model 2 presented in Table 4, the curvature of the inconsistency line (ONCX = −offline customer experiences (OFFCX))
Our study examines how various combinations of online and offline customer experiences differ in driving customer satisfaction and ultimate service success
Summary
The traditional e-commerce business model becomes commoditized, and digital attackers are experimenting with new retail models in which the typical customer journey is likely to be a mix of offline and online, or omni-channel [1,2,3]. Omni-channel practice has developed rapidly, with at least 60 percent of shoppers excited about omni-channel services; this is the case in China, where the overwhelming majorities of shoppers—85 percent—are already omni-channel customers [6]. Some of these omni-channel customers may suffer from imbalanced resources or inconsistent treatment quality across different channels. This highlights the vital challenge to brands and retail companies of shaping and managing the omni-channel customer experience [7,8,9]. Optimizing customer experience lies at the heart of both physical retailing [17,18] and virtual retailing services [19,20,21,22]
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