An Examination of the Retail Omnichannel Customer Journey: Understanding Customer Interaction and its influences on Customer Experience
(A2020-63878)

AUTHORS

Triana Hadiprawoto, University of Leeds; Charalampos Saridakis, University of Leeds, Leeds University Business School; Aristeidis Theotokis, University of Leeds

KEYWORDS

omnichannel; experience; interaction

ABSTRACT

The omnichannel strategy brings a new avenue to the creation of customer experience. The vanishing of the boundary between physical and virtual channels, which then complemented by the integration of both has been the hallmark that defines an omnichannel retailer. Customers face myriad options on how to shop with an omnichannel retailer yet expect to come across consistent experience. This research aims to understand an omnichannel retail strategy through the lens of customer interaction. Positioning customer interaction as a multi-dimensional concept, this study analyses two distinct dimensions: the number of contact points (breadth) and the number of activities involved (depth). Using a large-scale customer’s survey and a pre-test from an experiment study, the findings suggest that both dimensions of customer interaction have curvilinear relationships to customer experience. This finding opens new direction to explore the role of customer interaction in creating customer experience.