Purpose This study aims to systematize and critically analyse existing indices and frameworks on digital capabilities with the focus on consumers’ digital capabilities, identify opportunities for their further development and suggest agenda for future research. Design/methodology/approach A sample of 18 frameworks and indices of consumers’ digital capabilities were compared based on their purposes, stakeholders, scope and application areas. Findings The study concludes with propositions that generalise current views on conceptualisation, measurement and management of consumers’ digital capabilities. Each proposition is further investigated in terms of possible implications for research and practice. Practical implications The study indicates opportunities for businesses not only to consider consumers as recipients and adopters of digital technologies but also to aim to understand how to proactively involve consumers in value co-creation, help them be better educated and have a comprehensive understanding of potential outcomes of their participation in the digital economy. Social implications Highlighting individual consumer perspective in existing indices and frameworks will help consider the interests of society and provide win-win opportunities for everyone involved in the digital marketplace through bottom-up engagement in addition to top-down regulation and monitoring. Originality/value This study contributes to the extant literature threefold: firstly, existing digital capability frameworks and indices are systematized and critically investigated using criteria of stakeholders, purpose and aims; secondly, consumers are identified as principal stakeholder group whose interests are insufficiently presented in existing indices; thirdly, an integrative approach is suggested for a crucial comparison of existing indices, frameworks and their methodology with the focus on consumers’ interests.

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The case is devoted to the transition of the telecommunications company Tele2 to a management system based on the principles of continuous improvement of customer experience, or CX-transformation. The case describes the development of Tele2 in the Russian cellular market in 2003–2020. Firstly, it outlines the main aspects of the Tele2’s business strategy in 2003–2016. Secondly, it provides a detailed description of events that took place in 2015–2016, when Tele2’s financial and operational performance indicators dwindled, and the mobile operator was challenged to develop a new business strategy that meets the changing market realities. Finally, there is a description of a new customer-focused strategy that implied the integration of customer metrics into all organizational processes and the restructuring of the internal customer experience management system. The case describes actions taken by the company during 2017–2020 to implement customer experience management practices and outlines the key results of Tele2’s CX transformation. The case is based on Tele2’s internal reports, retrospective interviews with the company’s representatives involved in the CX transformation process, and secondary opensource information. The case can be used to discuss the prerequisites, goals, components, and success factors of CX transformation.

Goal: the purpose of the current paper is to examine how five consumer characteristics (namely, hedonic shopping orientation, comparison shopping proneness, consumer confusion proneness, privacy concerns, and awareness of privacy control) influence the need for different forms of customer experience (CX) individualization. Methodology: the study is based on an online survey of a representative sample of 586 Russian online consumers conducted in mid-2021. Several consumer groups with different preferences for CX individualization are identified using cluster analysis; then multinominal logit modelling is used to define whether five consumer characteristics can predict group membership. Findings: the results empirically confirm that consumers differ in the need for CX individualization and demonstrate that all five consumer characteristics do work in predicting the need for CX individualization, but their role varies for different CX individualization strategies. Originality and contributions: the paper is the first to jointly examine three CX individualization strategies that online retailers may use to interact with customers: content personalization, product customization, and interaction humanization. The results of the study shed light on CX individualization strategies that firms should use to addressthe diverse consumer needs in their long-term strategies.

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