Digital or human touchpoints? Insights from consumer-facing in-store services

Abstract

Purpose Prior research highlights the extent to which consumers largely appreciate the possibility to choose among different digital touchpoints during the in-store experience, which results in a pervasive introduction of digital touchpoints as the first point of contact between retailers and consumers. However, consumers also give value to the human interactions in the service channels. The previous studies do not conclusively indicate the best balance of digital and human services. The purpose of this paper is to understand consumer-facing in-store services in new technology-enriched retail settings. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative approach involving face-to-face semi structured interviews was applied. To this end, the authors recruited 26 participants in Northern Italy between October and November 2017. Findings Results reveal motivations, preferences and discouraging factors leading consumers’ interactions with digital or human touchpoints. Findings ultimately provide useful guidelines to managers on understanding consumers’ attitudes toward digital vs human touchpoints phenomenon. Originality/value By identifying the key drivers of either digital and human touchpoints selection in offline retail settings, the present study figured out the attributes playing the crucial role in determining consumers’ preference regarding the in-store alternatives. Findings allow a further greater clarification of the practical issues, with emphasis on the new of human–machine integration.

Change in technology-enabled omnichannel customer experiences in-store

“…It offers retailers a roadmap to assess ISTs implemented in the physical store across the shopper journey and their contribution to customer experience. Finally, it responds to Vannucci and Pantano's (2019) call for methodological advances in the omnichannel literature by using a time-based approach to the implementation and experience of technologies in physical retail settings.…”

Exploring customers’ likeliness to use e-service touchpoints in brick and mortar retail

“…Relative advantages and personalization are also shown to have a positive mediated impact (i.e., via satisfaction and perceived risk) on customers' behavioral intentions toward retail technologies (Roy et al 2017). Vannucci and Pantano (2019) find that customers have more trust in the suggestions made by digital TPs than they have in those made by human TPs. However, past e-commerce research suggests that personalization has no effect on purchase intentions (M. Kim and Stoel 2005).…”

“…Especially as the orientation of customers toward personal communication and contact is stronger in BaM stores than it is in e-commerce stores (Schramm-Klein et al 2007), human interfaces for e-service provision should not be neglected. However, Vannucci and Pantano (2019) suggest that customers have more trust in digital TPs than they do in human TPs. While self-service interfaces might reduce the frequency of interpersonal interactions, they provide alternatives to the human service interface and increase the quality of customer-to-employee interactions (Pantano and Migliarese 2014).…”

“…According to prior research, behavioral intentions toward mobile information search in BaM retail stores are typically affected by customers' perceptions of its benefits (de Kerviler et al 2016). In addition, prior research suggests that the utilitarian benefits of digital TPs are more important than their hedonic benefits (Vannucci and Pantano 2019). Functional in-store technologies are shown to cause fewer privacy concerns than others and may even reduce them in mobile apps, including promotional TPs (Inman and Nikolova 2017).…”

“…The participants' online shopping frequency had a weak but significant positive impact on the likeliness that they would use this eTP (see Table D.1 in Appendix D.2). Usually, customers attach importance to and have a positive attitude about self-checkout TPs (Inman and Nikolova 2017;Lazaris et al 2015aLazaris et al , 2015b, as they provide several benefits (Renko and Druzijanic 2014), including improved efficiency because they are faster than their employee-operated counterparts (Vannucci and Pantano 2019;Vuckovac et al 2017). By reducing the time and effort required in shopping in BaM stores, retailers can drive store patronage intentions (Baker et al 2002).…”