Purchase intention through mobile applications : a customer experience lens

Purpose: The study aims to clarify customer experience as perceived through interactions between the consumer and the mobile application of a retailer. It proposes to model and empirically study the relationship between customer experience, utilitarian and hedonic benefits and purchase intention when interacting with mobile applications of fashion retailers. Design/methodology/approach: The study opted for a quantitative approach using a web-based questionnaire. The data collected from a final sample of 118 users of fashion retailers' mobile applications was analysed using partial least square structural equation modelling. Findings: The results point to a positive and a direct impact of utilitarian factors on the two dimensions of customer experience. Moreover, hedonic benefits seem to generate a positive experience with a retailer's mobile application and are likely to generate favourable rational and emotional responses. In addition, the findings confirm that both dimensions of experience (affective and cognitive) affect purchase intention with a stronger effect for the cognitive dimension over the affective one. Practical implications: The study concludes with implications for retailers to improve customer experience when using their mobile applications. Retailers are encouraged to integrate functional and aesthetic attributes not only to provide a favourable customer experience through rational evaluations and positive emotions but also to gain a competitive advantage in an m-shopping retailing context. Originality/value: This study identified a need to further explore customer experience in the context of mobile applications by considering the two dimensions of experience: the cognitive and the affective. Indeed, these two facets of customer experience are rarely studied simultaneously in the previous literature.