Digitalization has forced retailers to reevaluate their business models and channel strategies. Traditional brick-and-mortar retailers are no longer the standard and most of today’s retailers offer customers multiple sales channels to purchase from. The present study focusses on the grocery retail industry, which is rapidly shifting towards a more online purchasing setting. There is a need for further research regarding customer experience and customer loyalty, in an online grocery setting, with the aim to identifyimportant online attributes. Previous studies on online grocery and purchasing behavior have neglected to consider customers’ shift from the physical to the online store. Therefore, this study contributes to explain how factors of Brand Equity, Online Customer Experience (OCE) and E-loyalty affect customers’ willingness to stay with same grocery retailer while moving from offline to online. The study used a quantitative research approach by distributing a questionnaire on social media, resulting in 128 useful responds. The result demonstrated a positive relationship between the three concepts and customers’ willingness to choose the same online grocery retailer as offline. Brand was a significant factor in both offline and online. An online grocery retailer’s Website, Products, Interaction and Convenience wereshown to be important online attributes. Feeling secure with providing personal information and using acredit card online, was important. Lastly, maintaining a relationship with their online grocery retailer andfeeling emotionally satisfied after their online purchase was essential. Future research couldcomplement with other concepts that further explain grocery customers’ shift from the physical store to online.

Owing to technological development, companies want to transmit a memorable customer experience to their customer in order to enhance their competitive advantage. The purpose of this thesis is twofold - (1) to explore how E-tailers of vintage are working to create memorable online customer experiences and (2) to identify the challenges vintage E-tailers face whilst trying to create these experiences. Earlier research focusing on consumer experience within an online setting was used as a theoretical framework. Semi-structured interviews with eight successful companies, all working with selling vintage online was conducted, and conclusions using thematic analysis were drawn. The findings showed that the most important factors were unique and wide assortment, establishing trust, and adequate communication. The study also shows that the main challenges are related to the complex assortment and its growth, as well as the consumer attitudes. In contrast to the current literature, this study shows that the utilitarian feature is not important and it is something that the customers take for granted. The hedonic features are perceived as being of higher importance. A suggested framework of how to create memorable customer experiences in the context of vintage is also constructed.

The main objective of this study was to contribute to direct-to-customer (D2C) companies on the Swedish market by establishing guidelines. Despite the growing use of the model, there is meager research of its success factors. Through the investigation of the apparel and aligned industry, customer insights of components were collected. A deductive approach was used by firstly conducting a literature review and establishing a cross-referencing framework and extracting rough factors to serve as a guide. Empirical data was collected through a quantitative survey in an online questionnaire format. Analysis of the empirical findings developed six new factors; Social Media, Customer Service, Product Knowledge, Integrity, Website Manageability and Unique Value Addition, which were found imperative for the D2C customer experience. Website Manageability demonstrated the highest significance, emphasizing the importance of user-friendliness and navigation. Furthermore, Product Knowledge and Integrity also proved to be paramount to consumers. Customer Service was found to be impactful during various stages of the decision-making process. The report contributes to the subject by presenting customer insights into which elements are most valued during their online shopping experience and their impact during the different stages of the decision-making process.

This dissertation aims to examine the concept of ―online customer experience‖, ―flow‖, and its role in influencing online customers‘ loyalty to a hotel booking website. To achieve this aim, a model was developed, which proposed that online flow is generated by both hedonic and utilitarian website features. A model was developed based on literature review to measure the relationships between the constructs. To initiate this research, a survey approach was taken. After conducting a pilot study, a marketing company was contacted to distribute the link for the online questionnaire. Five hundred and eleven (511) questionnaires were completed by guests who booked a hotel room online. Participants completed the self-administered online questionnaire by answering questions related to their last hotel booking experience. Study results found that hedonic and utilitarian website features affect the flow experience positively. Results highlight that hedonic website features has a stronger effect on the flow experience compared to utilitarian ones. In addition, the results revealed that hedonic features positively impact brand equity and utilitarian features impact trust towards the hotel booking website. Further, both trust and brand equity have significant and positive relationship with e-loyalty. However, according to study results, flow experience does not have a direct significant effect on e-loyalty. The study findings suggest that consumers who are able to achieve a state of flow while shopping online will perceive higher brand equity and trust. Therefore, their perceptions of the brand are improved. With enhanced levels of trust and brand equity, consumers are more likely to build bonds and stay loyal to the hotel booking website. It is important to note that iv enhancing the brand equity and trust via hedonic and utilitarian website features is important to increase loyalty because flow experience does not directly influence loyalty. This study contributes to existing research on flow experience in several ways. Firstly, it developed and tested a model with precursors of flow experience in ecommerce by establishing a link between website features and flow experience. Antecedents and consequences of flow experience can help researchers understand when this experience occurs and what to expect from this optimal experience in online environments. Thus, this study makes a contribution to the existing literature by examining the effects of features of the website on flow experience. It is worth noting that in the model, hedonic website features had the largest impact on flow experience. This is particularly an important contribution, considering that precious related research examined variables such as attractiveness, novelty, playfulness, personal innovativeness, content of the website, interactivity, teleperesence and perceived ease of use as the precursors of flow experience, but they have not examined the website characteristics that derives from shopping orientations. Study results can give hotel booking website designers and marketers a better understanding of the online consumer experiences and loyalty

Technology is becoming more central to people’s lives than ever before, and the most widely embraced technological device on the consumer market are mobile phones. This creates an ever-increasing market place for mobile apps, which during 2016 had revenues amounted to 88.3 billion U.S. dollars. The number is expected to increase, and together is estimated to generate 188.9 billion U.S. dollars in revenues 2020. One of the industries affected by this strong online presence is direct selling, where branded mobile apps have started to be used as a sales tool for sales representatives. The apps aim to facilitate the sales representatives’ daily work and bring new opportunities to engage with the end customers in a more convenient way. However, limited research exists about how the sales representatives experience the branded mobile apps in the industry. The purpose of this paper is to explore the sales representatives’ behavior and attitude towards using branded mobile apps within the direct selling industry. This study has been conducted by a quantitative descriptive and exploratory study using a survey. Sales representatives that placed an order exceeding 100 Euros during the last three weeks in five Western culture countries for one direct selling company were targeted. In total, 460 responses were gathered. The result gave some valuable insights although the initial hypothesized benefits could not be confirmed. The findings instead suggest separate items that contributed the most to sales representatives’ satisfaction and purchase intentions. In order to increase satisfaction among sales representatives, branded mobile apps used in direct sales should 1) facilitate the interaction with the company, 2) be easy to navigate with, 3) provide relevant information, 4) be convenient to shop from, and finally 5) work as a good conversation topic in a social context. Further on, the item identified to have the greatest contribution to purchase intentions is how convenient the app is to shop from, i.e. the same as number 4) above. The future challenge for the direct selling industry and its managers is thus to take advantage of these insights and further study how the attributes more practically can be implemented for their business. By focusing on these actions in the creation and development of branded mobile apps, the direct selling industry can expect to achieve higher satisfaction among their sales representatives and also increase their purchase intentions. / Dagens teknik har blivit en allt mer central del i människors liv, och den vanligaste enheten på konsumentmarknaden idag är mobiltelefoner. Detta har skapat en ständigt ökande marknad för mobilappar, som år 2016 genererade 88.3 miljarder U.S. dollar. Antalet appanvändare framöver förväntas att öka, och tillsammans generera 188.9 miljarder U.S. dollar i intäkter år 2020. En av de branscher som påverkats av denna starka närvaro online är direktförsäljning, där appar har börjat användas som försäljningsverktyg för konsulenterna. Apparna syftar till att underlätta konsulenternas dagliga arbete och ge nya möjligheter att engagera sig med slutkunderna på ett lättare och mer fördelaktigt sätt. Dock existerar det lite forskning och kännedom om hur konsulenterna upplever användandet av appar i branschen. Syftet med detta examensarbete är att undersöka försäljningsrepresentanternas beteende och attityd gentemot att använda appar inom direktförsäljningsbranschen. Studien har varit både beskrivande och undersökande, och har genomförts genom en samla in kvantitativ data med hjälp av en enkätundersökning. Kunder som har lagt en order över 100 Euros de tre senaste veckorna i fem västeuropeiska länder för ett direktförsäljningsföretag har studerats. Totalt erhölls 460 svar. Resultatet gav flertalet värdefulla insikter, även om de initiala hypoteserna syftade till att undersöka olika fördelar inte kunde bekräftas. Resultaten föreslår istället separata aspekter med störst påverkan på hur nöjda konsulenterna är, samt deras köpintentioner. För att öka nöjdheten bland konsulenter bör appar som används i direktförsäljning 1) underlätta samspelet med företaget, 2) vara lätta att navigera med, 3) tillhandahålla relevant information, 4) vara bekväm att handla från och slutligen 5) fungera som ett bra samtalsämne i ett socialt sammanhang. Vidare kunde det ses att den identifierade aspekten som bidrar mest till konsultenternas köpintentioner är hur bekvämt appen är att handla från, det vill säga samma aspekt som identifierades för konsulenters tillfredställelse under nummer 4) ovan. Den framtida utmaningen för direktförsäljningsindustrin och dess chefer är således att utnyttja dessa insikter och studera vidare hur dessa aspekter kan lämpas mer i praktiken för deras företag. Genom att fokusera på dessa åtgärder vid skapandet och utvecklingen av appar kan direktförsäljningsindustrin räkna med att erhålla högre tillfredsställelse bland sina konsulenter, samt att även öka deras köpintentioner.

Background: Nowadays, the development of the internet makes online shopping more popularized . The appearance of online shopping brings considerable benefits to customers, however, there are still risks in the area. To maintain good relationship management between customers and companies, it is necessary to understand the online customer experience and its relevant important factors . Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explain the impact of three factors (low-quality delivery, low-quality online customer service, and low-quality website design) on online customer experience. Methodology: The paper used a quantitative approach in cross-sectional design and collected totally 78 responses. The related data collection is conducted through a self-completion questionnaire in the online form.  Findings: The negative impacts of low-quality online customer service and low-quality website design on online customer experience are confirmed. There is an effective and strong connection between low-quality website design and low-quality online customer service. Conclusion: Based on the findings, H2 and H3 cannot be rejected but H1 needs to be rejected. One can therefore say that even in the context of rapid technological development, modern online shoppers have not changed their aversion to low-quality elements, that the view that low-quality online customer service and low-quality website design negatively affect OCE has not changed.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is adopted fast and wide across consumer industries and digital marketing. This new technology has the potential to enhance online customer experience and outcomes of customer experience. However, research relating to the impact of AI is still developing and empirical evidence sparse. Taking a consumercentred approach and by adopting Social Response Theory as theoretical lens, this research addresses an overall research question pertaining to the implications of online customer experience with AI on consumer behaviour. A quantitative research strategy with positivist approach is adopted to gather a large sample (n= 489) of online consumers who have previously interacted with AI-enabled technology. The collected data is analysed statistically utilising Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). Empirical findings show strong positive effects of anthropomorphism of AI, para-social interaction with AI, and performance expectancy of AI on all three customer experience dimensions of informativeness, entertainment and social presence. Additionally, there is strong statistical support for the positive effect of informativeness and social presence on continued purchase intentions (β= .379 and β= .315), while the effects of entertainment are less strong. The mediating effects of customer experience have been assessed, highlighting social presence as most important mediator. This research contributes to knowledge by extending previous customer experience theory and quantifying the influence of online customer experience with AI on purchase intentions and eWOM. The theoretical insights also translate into direct implications for marketing practice relating to the design, integration, and implementation of more consumer- and outcome-oriented AI applications. / Faculty of Management, Law and Social Sciences studentship

Actualmente las compras y servicios online han crecido exponencialmente, por lo cual las diferentes industrias se han visto en la necesidad de mejorar estos servicios y enfocarse en satisfacer las nuevas necesidades del consumidor. Una de las industrias más afectadas por esta migración al canal online han sido los retailers, por lo que estos han optado por potencializar sus plataformas online, especialmente las tiendas por departamento las cuales tienen gran presencia en el mercado peruano. Las tiendas departamentales, han implementado nuevas estrategias para adaptarse a este nuevo consumidor, entre las cuales destaca el otorgarle el control al cliente durante su experiencia online para que este se sienta empoderado y, por ende, satisfecho. Para la elaboración del paper, partimos de la relación ya planteada por varios autores entre el Customer Empowerment (CE) y la satisfacción de los clientes, sin embargo, hemos enfocado este trabajo de investigación al estudio de la relación de estas variables, pero netamente en un entorno digital la cual es una relación no tan estudiada. Por lo tanto, en el presente documento, se analizarán las dimensiones del Customer Empowerment en relación con la E-Satisfacción de los retailers. En esta investigación se propone realizar encuestas para, posteriormente, analizar los datos obtenidos mediante el método de regresión lineal. Ello, con la finalidad de encontrar una posible relación entre estas dos variables y evaluar qué dimensión del CE es más significativa en relación a la E-Satisfacción. / Nowadays, online purchases and services have grown exponentially. For this reason, industries have identified the need to improve these services and focus on satisfying the new expectations of their consumers. Retail industry is one of the most affected by this migration to online channels, so they have chosen to strengthen their online platforms, especially the department stores that have a strong presence in the Peruvian market. Department stores have implemented new strategies to adapt to the new consumer, such as granting control to customers´ online experience making them feel empowered and consequently satisfied. This paper has been prepared based on the relationship between Customer Empowerment and Customer Satisfaction, which have already been suggested by several authors. However, this research study focuses on the relationship of these variables in a digital environment. In this paper, we will analyze the dimensions of customer empowerment with regards to retailers´ e-satisfaction. In this research we propose to conduct surveys to subsequently analyze the data obtained by using the linear regression method in order to find a possible relationship between these two variables and evaluate which dimension of customer empowerment is more significant in terms of e-satisfaction. / Trabajo de investigación

Customer retention also referred to as Customer loyalty has been proven to be an important factor in the success of online retailers. However, recent research has shown that many online retailers are still unenlightened on the elements they need to focus on in order to retain their customers. On the contrary, Amazon which operates in a business ecosystem has been found to have high customer loyalty which means that the company must have been able to modify rightly the appropriate contributors to online customer loyalty compared to the many other online retailers. Studies have been conducted to investigate different variables including customer satisfaction and trust to find out if these variables can be applied to improve online customer loyalty. Still, there has been no research that has investigated how customer satisfaction together with trust in the context of a business ecosystem may influence customer loyalty. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate how online retailers create customer loyalty as a result of online customer satisfaction and trust in the context of the business ecosystem, by applying the case study of Amazon. The most suitable way of conducting this research was to collect quantitative data from Amazon customers who had shopped more than twice within the last two months from the time of participating in the self-completed survey. The questionnaire was distributed in different Facebook groups and was also shared with a number of participants via email. In order to answer the research questions and fulfill the study purpose, the data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences, and correlation and regression analyses were conducted. The findings indicated that customer satisfaction and trust in the context of a business ecosystem are the key factors in establishing customer loyalty. In addition, trust in the context of a business ecosystem contributed more to predicting customer loyalty in comparison to customer satisfaction.

In this paper we have chosen to study three aspects of the shopping experience online -navigation, product image and product information based on Hasan’s (2016) theory, to examine if, and how, the shopping experience online needs to improve in the fashion retail industry. From eyetracking-observations and qualitative interviews in this study, we identified the customers expectations and perceived problems in the online shoppingexperience. One of our findings show that there is a general agreement that product images have a significant impact on the shopping experience online. Another finding shows that distinctively visible filtering options on the online stores are important for the consumer to find what they are looking for. / För denna uppsats har vi valt att studera kring tre aspekter inom shoppingupplevelsen online -navigering, produktbild och produktbeskrivning, utifrån Hasans (2016) grundmodell för att undersöka om och hur shoppingupplevelsen online behöver förbättras inom modebranschen. Utifrån eyetracking-observationer och kvalitativa intervjuer framkommer vilka förväntningar och upplevda problem som identifieras av konsumenter, för shoppingupplevelsen online. Ett av resultaten visar att det överlag finns en generell överenskommelse för att bland annat produktbilder har en stor inverkan på shoppingupplevelsen online. Ytterligare ett resultat visade att en tydlig presentation av filtreringsmöjligheter på webbshoppar är av betydelse för att konsumenten ska hitta rätt i sin sökning.