In-Store Mobile Phone Use and Customer Shopping Behavior: Evidence from the Field

Abstract

This research examines consumers’ general in-store mobile phone use and shopping behavior. Anecdotal evidence has suggested that mobile phone use decreases point-of-purchase sales, but the results of the current study indicate instead that it can increase purchases overall. Using eye-tracking technology in both a field study and a field experiment, matched with sales receipts and survey responses, the authors show that mobile phone use (vs. nonuse) and actual mobile phone use patterns both lead to increased purchases, because consumers divert from their conventional shopping loop, spend more time in the store, and spend more time examining products and prices on shelves. Building on attention capacity theories, this study proposes and demonstrates that the underlying mechanism for these effects is distraction. This article also provides some insights into boundary conditions of the mobile phone use effect.

The future of in-store technology

“…Such co-production can give consumers control over the situation with varying outcomes (Bendapudi and Leone 2003;Esmark, Noble, Bell, and Griffith 2016), therefore future extensions of the model could explore elements of felt control. Technology has also been shown to be a distraction in some situations (Grewal et al 2018), therefore distraction could also be another possible mediator for future research.…”

Key Factors for In‐Store Smartphone Use in an Omnichannel Experience: Millennials vs. Nonmillennials

“…For this reason, we studied the moderating role of age by differentiating the two groups, millennials and nonmillennials. Specifically, regarding m-shopping, some studies have shown that younger consumers are more likely to accept m-shopping than older consumers [16,23,24] and that the intention to use smartphones in-store positively affects the use behavior more in young people [51]. Due to the limited papers that discuss this moderating effect in the omnichannel shopping process, we incorporate it through the following hypotheses:…”

Comparing The In-Store Use Of Smartphones Between Shoppers Of Generations X-Y-Z

“…Analyzing the reviews of Varnali and Toker (2010), Persaud and Azhar (2012), and Ström et al (2014), is possible to conclude that research has mostly devoted attention to marketing communications and much less to the shopping experience. Also Grewal, Ahlbom, Beitelspacher, Noble and Nordfält, (2018) recently refer "no studies that investigate the influence of consumers' general in-store mobile phone use on sales, such that the pertinent effects throughout the store (not just on impulse purchases near checkout) remain uncertain" (p. 102). So, mobile shopper marketing empirical studies are far from abundant.…”

“…Impact of mobile shopping on customers' purchase behavior Voropanova (2015) Smartphones Omnichannel Implications of the use of smartphones in omnichannel shopping for consumer shopping productivity and shopping value Santos (2015) Smartphones Retailing Acceptance intention towards QR code Gensler et al (2017) Not identified Omnichannel Factors affecting the decision to showroom and its benefits Dacko (2017) Smartphones In-store retailing Contribute of augmented reality to retail setting Fuentes et al (2017) Smartphones In-store retailing Explains how mobile phones reconfigure shopping practice Rippé et al (2017) Smartphones In-store retailing Explore the relation between consumer mobile shopping behavior and the retail salesperson's ability to sell Riaz (2017) Smartphones In-store retailing Attractiveness and effectiveness of information triggers that help the shopping in a physical store Mosquera et al (2018) Smartphones Omnichannel Factors that influence customers' intentions to use smartphones instore and actual behavior Grewal et al (2018) Smartphones In-store retailing Examines consumers' general instore mobile phone use and shopping behavior Source: adapted from Ström's et al (2014) and Persaud and Azhar (2012) Acar (2014) states that a social generation is defined as "people that are grouped within a certain range of ages, location they live, and significant life events they experienced at critical developmental stages" (p. 11). Ingelhart (1997) proposed the Generational Cohort Theory as a way to divide the population https: //doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2019.12.02.46 Corresponding Author: Paulo Duarte Silveira Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of the conference eISSN: 392 into groups called generational cohorts (Lissitsa & Kol, 2016).…”