Mining Customer Preference in Physical Stores From Interaction Behavior

Online stores are capable analyzing user preference from click logs and transaction records, while retailers of physical stores still lack effective methods to understand user preference. Traditional ways are predominantly field surveys, which are not effective as they need labor-intensive survey thus limit to small populations. As mobile devices and social media are becoming more and more pervasive, user-generated heterogeneous information (e.g., check-in activities and textual reviews) from these platforms are providing rich information to in-depth understand user preference. In this paper, we present a recommendation model for physical stores by learning user's preference from user-generated heterogeneous information. Specifically, the proposed model consists of two phases: 1) offline modeling multi-relation among users, stores and aspects; 2) online graph-based recommendation. The offline modeling phase is designed to learn two kinds of relations: User-Store relation and Store-Aspect relation, while the online recommendation phase automatically produces top-k recommended stores based on the learnt relations with a graph-based model. To demonstrate the utility of our proposed model, we have performed a comprehensive experimental evaluation on two real-world datasets, which are collected by more than 120,000 users during 12 months. Experimental results show our method outperforms all baselines significantly in terms of recommendation effectiveness.

The emergence of new channels, represented by social media, mobile devices, geolocation-based applications and, most recently, wearable and augmented reality technologies, have made online and offline experiences indistinct and broadening the points of contact between consumers and organizations. Thus, considering the offer of products and services in more than one marketing channel seems to have become imperative to innovation, to face the inadequate infrastructure of emerging countries such as Brazil and to improve the level of services offered by retailers installed in regions considered strategic for the flow of goods, with high added value by retail activities and with a significant number of commercial establishments, such as the mesoregions of Alto Paranaíba, south of Goiás and Triângulo Mineiro. Moreover, it is argued that in addition to adopting multichannel marketing channels must be fully integrated by adopting an omnichannel strategy. The literature suggests that consumer-perceived multichannel integration (MCI) can impact the dimensions of Consumer-Based Retailer Equity (CBRE), a brand assessment model that measures brand recall, brand associations, perceived quality, and brand loyalty of retailers. In this perspective, the present study aims to analyze multichannel retail integration and consumer brand equity of multi-channel retailers. To do so, the research was divided into two stages, one of exploratory character and the other of a descriptive character. Through documentary analysis and survey with 178 consumers, the exploratory study allowed to identify the main changes occurred in Brazilian retail between 1970 and 2017; the profile and behavior of multichannel consumers in the context of the Alto Paranaíba, south of Goiás and Triângulo Mineiro mesoregions, and retailers that adopt the multi-channel strategy in the perception of these consumers. The consolidation of these results guided the following descriptive step and allowed, through documentary analysis, observation and survey with 384 consumers of these mesoregions, to describe the main strategies and technologies of multichannel integration declared by these companies; analyze the level of perceived multichannel integration on the part of consumers and how these consumers evaluate the brands of these retailers. The results showed that Brazilian retail is in a process of transition from the multi to the omnicanality, due to the emergence of technologies that have been inserted in the consumer behavior of the mesoregion, characterized by the widespread use of the internet, e-commerce, mobile devices and social networks in search and purchase processes. Despite this, it was identified that these consumers do not seem to use the multiple channels in an integrated way, since practices like buying on the internet and withdrawing, exchanging or returning products in the physical store were not significant. The most cited brands by the sample were Americanas, Magazine Luiza, Casas Bahia and Saraiva, who declared integration strategies consistent with the SO-LO-MO approach of Hüseyinoğlu, Galipoğlu and Kotzab (2017): physical store formats based on local preferences; installation of kiosks in physical stores to access online channels; purchase services on the internet and withdrawal at the physical store; development and enhancement of mobile applications; presence in social networks and C2C commerce initiatives. These strategies appears to be supported by the unification of sales, information and payment software; adoption and/or enhancement of marketplace platforms; acquisition of technology companies; creation of technology labs, investments in big data and data science software, as well as the adoption of geofencing technologies, QR code readers and online payment technologies. On regional context, visits to four physical stores of these brands, located in the city of Uberlândia-MG, the practices could be partially confirmed. Regarding the perceived multichannel integration, based on the model of Frasquet and Miquel (2017), it was identified that the majority of consumers of the two most cited brands in the first survey (Americanas and Magazine Luiza) perceived a low level of reciprocity (possibility of switching between channels during the buying process) and coordination (level of alignment between online and offline offerings), although these companies declare the adoption of strategies and technologies for this purpose. In relation to brand equity based on these consumers, the application results of the model developed by Pappu and Quester (2006) allowed to identify that the brands were evaluated positively in the constructs: awareness, associations and perceived quality, but presented low performance in the variables of the loyalty construct. The Exploratory Factor Analysis allowed to infer that the variables of the constructs are grouped in a similar way to the original scales. In general, the study contributed to a better understanding of multichannel integration and brand equity in retail, by exploring the issue from the perspective of consumer behavior. As for its managerial contribution, it contributed with a diagnosis of the disparity between multichannel integration practices perceived by the sample of consumers and practices declared by the companies.

Over the past decade, there has been an enormous change in the way consumers shop online, despite continued buying from retails or physical stores. Now-a-days consumers have several options to buy either from retails stores, wholesale suppliers and Online stores. Online shopping offers benefits to both customers and businesses that lead industries switching to Online than retail outlets. Online buying is the solution to the busy lives of consumers to save time for modern individuals. Consumers wanted to explore the convenience and comfort than willing to spend more time in shopping. Does it mean, Individuals are becoming lazier with the penetration of Online shopping into their everyday life? whether anyone accepts or not, everyone likes to spend more time Online than physical stores. Why is it so attracting? Every organization also focused on the utilizing the power of Online and devising their own strategy for selling and marketing of products or services. Are there situations any Online only stores opened up the physical stores as well? To discover answers for these specific questions, we thought of understanding the literature on online buying in India. This paper begins with introduction to the online buying in providing the best experience to the consumers and explores further on growth in India in utilizing the online websites or mobile apps, depicts the role of online buying in influencing the services offered to the public and approaches business takes towards going online. KEYWORDS: Online buying, Online Marketing, Online Sales, Online stores, Mobile shopping

The competition in the fast fashion industry is getting more complex as online-only retailing has emerged in the industry. The fast fashion online-only companies rely on e-commerce platforms to merchandize products and provide services to customers. Online-only companies use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) through recommendation systems and chatbots to improve business functions and enhance online customer shopping experience. Fast fashion multichannel companies (online and physical stores) have a concern about their physical stores’ performance, and the role that physical stores can play to enhance customer experience. Multichannel companies are continuously looking for new ways to optimize services and enhance customer experience in both channels. Physical stores can play a crucial role in enhancing customer experience. By collecting data on in-store customers, their interests and interactions with products, multichannel companies can analyze such data using AI and ML to optimize production, marketing, and customers experience. This paper highlights the application of AI in ecommerce by fast fashion companies. Also, this paper discusses the effect of fast fashion online-only companies on fast fashion multichannel companies’ physical stores, aiming to understand the current impact of online-only business on physical stores performance. This paper, further, discusses the future role of fashion physical stores in the industry.KeywordsOnline-only companiesMultichannel companiesArtificial intelligenceMachine learningE-CommerceFast fashionCustomer experience

Over the decades, due to the spread of the internet and the accessibility of digital devices such as laptops, tablets and smartphones, online shopping has grown steadily and become accessible among consumers. In today's world, online shopping is relaxation for individuals engaged in a busy life. Recently, there are changes in the way clients shop from traditional to virtual. While customers prefer to purchase goods from a retail store, internet shoppers feel safer buying online. People who are too involved with their everyday operations are unlikely to spend a lot of time shopping in a physical store. A right choice is to indulge in online shopping. It saves vital time and resources. Social media helps increase awareness about Nigeria's online films and spread the word about online shopping services. Online shopping is getting momentum globally, but the penetration rate in Nigeria is low. Thus, this research tries to propose a conceptual framework of social media's mediating effect on the relationship between Reliability, Perceived Usefulness on Online Shopping Behaviour.

The rapid advancement of the Internet has significantly reshaped traditional business models, enabling firms to leverage both online and offline channels to enhance competitiveness and profitability. This study explores the interplay between bundling and pricing strategies within a dual-channel retail system that integrates a physical store and an online shop, utilizing a game-theoretic approach while accounting for network externalities. A two-stage model is proposed: in stage 1, a manufacturer supplies two products with differing network externalities to a retailer, who must decide whether to sell them individually or as a bundle. In stage 2, the manufacturer considers launching its online channel to complement the existing physical channel. Four distinct scenarios are analyzed, examining the bundling and pricing strategies employed by both the manufacturer and the retailer across both channels to maximize their profits. The findings indicate that the integration of physical and online channels is mutually beneficial for both parties, resulting in increased profits that grow alongside stronger network externalities. Moreover, the optimal bundling strategy is contingent upon the nature of the products and their respective externalities. Specifically, when both products demonstrate high network externalities, the manufacturer should implement a mixed strategy—offering the products as a bundle online while selling them individually in physical stores. Numerical analysis emphasizes the importance of network externalities in shaping bundling decisions and profit outcomes, providing actionable insights for firms operating in multi-channel retail environments.

General System Theory: Essential Concepts and applications: Volume 10 in: Cybernetics and Systems Series, Abacus, Tunbridge Wells, 1986, v + 270 pages, £24.50

Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning have achieved great success in the fields of computer vision and natural language processing, and then extended to various fields, such as biology, chemistry, and civil engineering, including big data in the field of logistics. Therefore, many logistics companies move towards the integration of intelligent transportation systems. Only virtual and physical development can support the sustainable development of the logistics industry. This study aims to: 1.) collect timely information from the block chain, 2.) use deep learning to build a customer database so that sales staff in physical stores can grasp customer preferences, and 3.) integrate Generative Adversarial Network analysis and logistics truck delivery route analysis. This study will introduce new logistics technology development and innovative smart service structure, covering front-end Internet of Things sensing, mobile application apps, and back-end massive data analysis platform to promote the self/intelligence of logistics. Artificial intelligence for customer preference analysis is used, and images are automatically distributed through the system to reduce labor costs and increase sales. The proposed method is feasible, and it also achieves the push system of information transmission in transportation. Thus, logistics transportation cost transmission is reduced, thereby intelligently pushing self-promotion in marketing activities.

PurposeThis study aims to understand why consumers continue to visit physical stores despite the rise in mobile shopping and online channels. Mobile shopping has changed how consumers shop, allowing them to easily switch between channels. However, physical stores continue to remain significant because some consumers still prefer them, challenging the belief that online markets always surpass offline markets. To serve their needs effectively, retailers must understand the motivations and behaviors of shoppers in both channels. Therefore, this study aims to explore why people cross the online channel to offline by examining their dissatisfaction with online shopping, using E-SERVQUAL variables.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a two-method approach that involves in-depth interviews to develop questions related to E-SERVQUAL variables and a survey to assess respondents’ likelihood of switching from online to offline. Data was collected from 203 participants.FindingsThe results indicate that dissatisfaction with the timeliness and condition of online shopping services is a significant factor driving consumers to switch to physical stores. This challenges the notion that online markets always surpass offline markets, emphasizing the continued significance of physical stores in the retail landscape.Originality/valueThis study recognizes the importance and relevance of physical stores in the retail environment while challenging the assumption that online markets always outperform brick-and-mortar markets. In terms of dissatisfaction and satisfaction, it is possible to identify under what circumstances dissatisfied consumers go from online to offline by considering the distribution channel migration phenomenon.

Problem definition: This paper examines whether and, if so, how much an online–off-line return partnership between online and third-party retailers with physical stores (or “location partners”) generates additional value to location partners. Academic/practical relevance: Online shoppers often prefer to return products to stores rather than mailing them back. Many online retailers have recently started to collaborate with location partners to offer the store return option to their customers, and we quantify its economic benefit to a location partner. Methodology: We analyze proprietary data sets from Happy Returns (which provides return services for more than 30 online retailers) and one of its location partners, using a panel difference-in-differences model. In our study, a treatment is the initiation of the return service at each of the location partner’s stores, and an outcome is the store and online channel performance of the location partner. We then explore the mechanisms of underlying customer behavior that drive these outcomes. Results: We find that the partnership increases the number of unique customers, items sold, and net revenue in both store and online channels. We identify two drivers for this improved performance: (1) the location partner acquires new customers in both store and online channels, and (2) existing customers change their shopping patterns only in the store channel after using the return service; in particular, they visit stores more often, purchase more items, and generate higher revenue after their first return service. Managerial implications: To our knowledge, we provide the first direct empirical evidence of value to location partners from a return partnership, and as these partnerships become more prevalent, our findings have important managerial implications for location partners and online retailers alike.

Purpose Coeliac disease (CD) is a life-long condition requiring strict adherence to a gluten-free (GF) diet. Due to wide claims of availability and lower costs of gluten-free food (GFF) and clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in England needing to save costs, access to prescriptions for patients with CD is being limited in England. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the availability and cost of GFF in an area where patients with CD have restricted access to prescriptions and to assess the nutritional composition of GFFs available in comparison with foods containing gluten (FCG). Design/methodology/approach Eight food categories that were representative of a range of commonly purchased GFFs were selected. Availability and cost of the cheapest and most expensive branded and non-branded GFFs and gluten containing equivalents were surveyed at physical stores (n=19) and online stores (n=8). The nutritional composition of some of the widely available GFFs identified (n=190) and comparable FCGs (n=218) were calculated using MyFitnessPal. Findings None of the budget stores or corner shops surveyed stocked any of the surveyed cereal-based GFFs. Online stores had more availability than physical stores; however, there was no significant difference in cost. GFFs cost, on average, 2.18 times more than FCG. When making nutritional comparisons with gluten-containing food, protein content was lower across 55 per cent of GFF categories. There was significantly less sugar in GF brown bread, crackers, and wholegrain pasta compared with those containing gluten (CG). Another main finding was GF ready-meals contained significantly less salt than ready-meals CG. Originality/value Limited resources and perceived wide availability of GF products resulted in reduced GF prescriptions to patients in England. The findings in this study revealed that there is no availability of cereal-based GFFs in budget stores, high cost and limited access to prescriptions can influence adherence to a GF diet and is most likely to affect patients from deprived groups. This study recommends that the prescription of GFF to patients with CD should be continued.

This article examines omnichannel redemption options when issuing digital coupons over social media. It investigates which channels or combinations of them provide optimal performance in terms of service-quality perception, customer satisfaction, and revenue. For that purpose, it compares three omnichannel redeeming options employing a between-participant quasi-experimental design that utilizes the primary data of a sporting goods retailer in Greece and a questionnaire as a data-collection instrument to investigate cause and effect relationships. Those three omnichannel redeeming options are analyzed in two pairwise comparisons: (a) multichannel (both online and offline) vs. offline-only (physical store), and (b) multichannel (both online and offline) vs. online-only (online store). Results reveal that while perceived service quality is essential to improve customer satisfaction, especially if satisfying the need for interaction with service employees, revenue performance depends only on the availability of multiple redemption options. Theoretical, practical, and research implications are thoroughly discussed at the end.

Deriving customer preferences for hotels based on aspect-level sentiment analysis of online reviews

In debates on digital affordances, mobile devices and social media platforms are often treated as separate (physical or digital) objects which function independently from each other and from the environments in which they are used (‘platform-centrism’). However, mobile phone use has increasingly been dominated by social media apps while social media are frequently accessed via mobile devices, particularly in Global South contexts where users often rely on mobile-only internet access via subsidized/zero-rated social media data bundles. Furthermore, the affordances of mobile social media are shaped by the physical, mediated and political contexts in which they are used. Technological affordances are far from universal (‘digital universalism’) but take on different shapes across the globe. Drawing on research carried out during the September 2011 Zambian elections, this article introduces the notion of ‘relational affordance’ to emphasize the interplay between mobile social media, users and their varied contexts. Despite the relatively low number of mobile internet users at the time, the Facebook group of the popular, privately-owned Zambian television station, Muvi TV, quickly emerged as a fast-paced forum for the sharing of information on the elections. Three ‘relational affordances’ – infrastructure, home-based access and temporality – help to explain the emergence of this active mobile social media public. This analysis challenges previous accounts of mobile social media publics which identified negative (constraining) affordances like the control exerted by Facebook page administrators and positive (enabling) affordances such as the ‘always-on’ nature of mobile social media use and their ‘on-the-go’ access in public spaces.

Online shopping is one of the dividends of the Internet technology. Online shops give shoppers the privilege of getting some benefits that cannot be offered in a physical store. Despite this, many potential customers have not embraced the technology, due to varying factors. The present article adapts the Theory of Reasoned Action and Technology Acceptance Model to investigate factors affecting the adoption of online shopping by Nigerian undergraduate students, using the University of Ibadan as a case study. Employing the quantitative research approach with survey method, it was discovered that a perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness significantly influence students' attitude to online shopping. Attitude, trust and subjective norm were found to influence behavioural intention to adopt online shopping, which in turn affects students' adoption of online shopping.