Utilitarian and/or hedonic shopping – consumer motivation to purchase in smart stores

Abstract

PurposeRecently, smart retail technology has emerged as an innovative technology that can improve consumer motivation and behavior in smart stores. Although prior studies have investigated factors influencing the adoption of smart retail technology, to the authors’ knowledge, no previous work has investigated the determinants of purchase intentions. The ultimate goal for retailers should be shopping, not technology adoption. However, traditional brick-and-mortar stores and theories focus on investing in utilitarian factors to attract customers. This study proposes that hedonic motivation should also play an important role, as new technologies may arouse customer curiosity and increase pleasant experiences. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore utilitarian and hedonic motivations that promote customers' purchase; intentions in smart stores. Specifically, the authors address the research questions: (1) What are the constituents of utilitarian motivation? (2) What are the constituents of hedonic motivation? (3) What are the factors that influence customers' purchase intentions? By answering the questions, the findings help retailers understand how to motivate customers to make purchases in smart stores.Design/methodology/approachTo investigate consumer motivation and purchase intentions, the customers who made purchases in smart stores were invited to participate in the questionnaire survey. This study collected 307 data in smart retail settings. Partial least squares (PLS) software was used to assess the reliability, validity and the paths and significance of all hypotheses.FindingsThe results show that perceived ease of use directly and indirectly influences purchase intentions through utilitarian and hedonic motivations. Utilitarian motivation is a formative second-order construct comprised of merchandise price, merchandise quality, location convenience, speed of shopping and product recommendation. Hedonic motivation is a reflective second-order construct composed of control, curiosity, joy, focused immersion and temporal dissociation. The findings provide insights into the successful implementation of smart retail technology and offer retailers to better understand consumer motivation and purchase intentions in smart stores.Originality/valueThis study is the first to examine how consumer motivation influences purchase intentions in smart stores. This study posits and verifies the extended hedonic system acceptance model (HSAM) to explain consumer motivation for shopping in smart retail settings. This study also models the original first-order utilitarian and hedonic constructs as second-order formative and reflective constructs, respectively. Utilitarian motivation regarding functional benefits is developed based on the 5Ps of marketing and situational factors, while hedonic motivation regarding pleasant experiences is proposed based on cognitive absorption.

A Study on Immersion and Intention to Pay in AR Broadcasting: Validating and Expanding the Hedonic Motivation System Adoption Mode

“…The HMSAM model categorizes user experience into two classifications based on theory: utilitarian motivation and hedonic motivation. It suggests that these two motivations collectively influence the intention to use a system [61]. This model originates from consumer behavior research and analyzes individuals' experience and acceptance mechanisms of products/services from both psychological and behavioral perspectives [62].…”

Assessing user benefits and privacy concerns in utilitarian and hedonic mobile augmented reality apps

“…MAR applications, as a visualization technology, extensively rely on user interaction to create immersive experiences. In the context of media communication, the uses and gratifications (U&G) theory provides a comprehensive framework for understanding how users actively engage with media to fulfill their specific needs and expectations (Chang et al ., 2022). This theory has been frequently applied to explore how users seek gratification and derive benefits from their experiences in the settings of e-commence and emerging technologies (Zhang et al ., 2019).…”

The impact of AI-powered technologies on aesthetic, cognitive and affective experience dimensions: a connected store experiment

“…We believe that the integration of AI-powered technologies would promote the emergence of cognitive experience and would allow a better situational engagement, as well as an absorption in the experiential environments. According to Charfi (2012), the affective dimension generated by these tools can sometimes lead to a high immersion state or flow and contribute to the improvement of the hedonic and/or utilitarian value of the experience (Hsu et al, 2021;Picot-Coupey et al, 2021;Chang et al, 2023). In line with these works, we assume that H2.…”

“…In retail, AI technology is frequently used in combination with other technologies (Saponaro et al, 2018). These include AI-powered technologies that are increasingly being adopted by connected stores (Chang et al, 2023), such as virtual fitting rooms, robots, virtual reality or interactive kiosks. According to Ameen et al (2021a, b), these technologies are becoming more prevalent in companies in reaction to persistent pressure on profit margins, reduced business cycles and heightened customer expectations.…”

“…In retail, AI technology is frequently used in combination with other technologies (Saponaro et al ., 2018). These include AI-powered technologies that are increasingly being adopted by connected stores (Chang et al ., 2023), such as virtual fitting rooms, robots, virtual reality or interactive kiosks. According to Ameen et al .…”