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.