Understanding the effects of physical experience and information integration on consumer use of online to offline commerce

Abstract

Online to Offline (O2O) commerce commands intense attention from both academic and practical fields, but the unique features of O2O commerce and how these features affect consumer use of O2O commerce remain unclear. Based on an analysis of the features of O2O commerce, we build a research model integrating perceived value theory and the technology acceptance model to examine the influence of the features of O2O commerce on consumer use intention. The research model is tested with data collected from a field survey using structural equation modelling. Two crucial features of O2O commerce, namely, “physical experience” and “integration of online and offline information”, are shown to exert significant impacts on consumer use intention via the classic core constructs of perceived benefit, perceived usefulness, and perceived value. The findings validate the two features’ impact on consumer use of O2O commerce via both technological and economic attributes. The implications for merchants’ and platforms’ operation in O2O commerce are discussed.