The value of psychological ownership: how buy-online-and-pick-up-in-store enhances consumer loyalty

Abstract

PurposeAlthough buy-online-and-pick-up-in-store (BOPS) has been widely implemented by companies, scant attention has been paid to its effect on consumer experience and the concomitant outcomes. Using the psychological ownership theory, this study aims to examine whether and how the BOPS experience (vs online experience) can enhance consumer loyalty.Design/methodology/approachStudy 1 investigated the consumer loyalty of shopping experience (self-pickup vs delivery) on actual consumer behavior through secondary data. Studies 2, 3 and 4 were controlled experiments to further investigate the mediating effect of product psychological ownership, and the moderating effects of product type and postdecision experience valence.FindingsThe authors found that BOPS shopping led to higher consumer loyalty (i.e. repeat purchase and repeat purchase frequency) compared with online shopping. Furthermore, the authors examined that this effect was mediated by product psychological ownership and moderated by product type and postdecision experience valence.Research limitations/implicationsTheoretical speculations about how BOPS shopping affects consumer experience should be probed in future research.Practical implicationsRetailers with physical stores can offer in-store pickup options for their online consumers to increase their product psychological ownership and consumer loyalty. And the positive effects of the BOPS strategy relied on product type and postdecision experience valence.Originality/valueThis research offers theoretical contributions to research on the BOPS strategy, psychological ownership theory and consumer loyalty.