Deriving Early Warning Churn Signals from In-Store Social Media Use : The Role of Digital Duality.
(A2020-64316)

AUTHORS

syagnik banerjee, University of Michigan Flint; Fareena Sultan, Northeastern University

KEYWORDS

social media; retail environment; brand switching

ABSTRACT

Retailers constantly monitor and influence consumer engagement with store environments to enhance retention and loyalty. Though engagement is commonly measured by visit duration, mobile web use inside the store can both distract and engage customers, thus leading to variability in the quality of attention despite physical presence. To address this measurement gap, authors define Digital Duality as the consumers’ propensity to attend to contexts different from the immediate physical environment while using the mobile web. Foursquare, Twitter, and anonymized physical movement GPS data reveals (i) percentage of social media updates synchronized to their immediate physical contexts vary by city and type of establishments users are situated in, and (b) digital duality from retail premises can predict switching propensity of store visitors to competitor brands. This research can assist firms vigilantly identify and intervene to prevent consumers from switching to a competitor’s brand.