Examining The Effect Of Differences And Similarities In Personalized And Interactive Features Between Mobile Shopping APP And Mobile Shopping Website On Establishing Consumer-Brand Relationship

Due to increasing mobile broadband penetration and rapid development of mobile commerce worldwide and in China,mobile phone has become important for retailers as a consumer touch point.Hence,it is essential to uncover all the factors that enhance mobile consumer experience.In the omnichannel environment where offline and online shopping channels merge and blend with social media channels,the market is getting progressively more complex to navigate.Therefore,marketers and retailers need to gain an understanding of the role each of the channels plays individually and in combination with other channels.Some markets are more complex than others,especially those that are experiencing significant transformation brought upon by the Digital Economy.China is a great example of such complex markets where new shopping channels are emerging and where the market is dominated by giant e Commerce platforms.Consequently,the Chinese consumer is a well-educated and greatly empowered digital consumer of the new era.This study aims to provide a window into the Chinese market and perceptions of the Chinese consumer towards two mobile shopping channels,mobile shopping App and mobile shopping website.In particular,this study examines the role different levels of personalization,interactivity and perceived ease of use in the features of the two shopping channels play in the context of the two channels and their impact on consumer personal connection with the brand and consumer commitment to build a relationship with the brand.This study argues that the examined constructs are the characteristics sought after in the new technologies by the digital consumer and therefore can have a substantial impact on the initial stages of establishing the relationship with the digital consumer(i.e.crating a connection with the brand and be committed to have an ongoing relationship with the brand).We focus on the very first phase of such relationship,i.e.the first encounter with a given channel of a given retail brand that,as the study argues,can determine the future of the mutual relationship.The differences in consumer experience in the two channels are analyzed empirically via experiment.The findings provide several important implications for the practitioners.First,personalization is a key factor that is likely to directly influence consumer connections with the brand and the relationship commitment with the brand.Combined with interactivity,it becomes a powerful tool to drive consumer engagement with the brand and is likely to lead to an establishment of a new relationship with the consumer.Mobile Apps provide a well-suited environment conducive to drive positive effects of personalization and interactivity on consumer perceptions towards the brand.Finally,to cultivate the relationship with consumers,retailers should focus on providing interactive and personalized features more than focusing on providing the features that are easy to use as ease of use has been found to have very little direct influence on the relationship between the consumer and the brand.