Purchase intention through mobile applications: a customer experience lens

Abstract

Purpose

The study aims to clarify customer experience as perceived through interactions between the consumer and the mobile application of a retailer. It proposes to model and empirically study the relationship between customer experience, utilitarian and hedonic benefits and purchase intention when interacting with mobile applications of fashion retailers.

Design/methodology/approach

The study opted for a quantitative approach using a web-based questionnaire. The data collected from a final sample of 118 users of fashion retailers' mobile applications was analysed using partial least square structural equation modelling.

Findings

The results point to a positive and a direct impact of utilitarian factors on the two dimensions of customer experience. Moreover, hedonic benefits seem to generate a positive experience with a retailer's mobile application and are likely to generate favourable rational and emotional responses. In addition, the findings confirm that both dimensions of experience (affective and cognitive) affect purchase intention with a stronger effect for the cognitive dimension over the affective one.

Practical implications

The study concludes with implications for retailers to improve customer experience when using their mobile applications. Retailers are encouraged to integrate functional and aesthetic attributes not only to provide a favourable customer experience through rational evaluations and positive emotions but also to gain a competitive advantage in an m-shopping retailing context.

Originality/value

This study identified a need to further explore customer experience in the context of mobile applications by considering the two dimensions of experience: the cognitive and the affective. Indeed, these two facets of customer experience are rarely studied simultaneously in the previous literature.

Citation

Hamouda, M. (2021), "Purchase intention through mobile applications: a customer experience lens", International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Vol. 49 No. 10, pp. 1464-1480. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJRDM-09-2020-0369