Annales Universitatis Mariae Curie-Skłodowska Sectio H, Oeconomia (Sep 2022)
The Importance of Limited Self-Determination When M-Channel Migration Strategy Is Implemented
Abstract
Theoretical background: Multichannel retailers can implement various migration strategies to induce consumers to use particular marketing channel. Some researchers indicated voluntary and forced customer E-channel migration strategies. Due to the negative consequences of a coercive strategy, a voluntary migration strategy is much more popular. Voluntary migration strategy provides multichannel shoppers a total freedom of their choice whereas the incentive-based migration strategy uses some stimulus in order to convince buyers to use specific marketing channel. Encouraging the buyer to behave in a particular way may cause him/her a negative self-determination perception. Limited self-determination means consumer conviction that a certain action was taken as a result of marketing initiatives, prompted by the seller, and is not the result of their free and independent decision. A self-determined customer is convinced of entering into a relationship with the provider on their own initiative. In the context of channel-based price differentiation, it is about the consumer's belief that a specific purchase channel has been selected as a result of a solicitation by the seller. According to researchers, limited self-determination can have potentially negative impact on the intention to buy. Purpose of the article: The presented research model refers to the customer intention to buy online (intention to stay there) in the multichannel context. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to contribute to existing literature on multichannel pricing and advance our understanding of factors influencing the customer intention to make a purchase in offline channel (to stay in a brick-and-mortar store) under the price pressure in mobile app. This study aims to investigate factors affecting the intention to purchase offline when m-channel migration strategy based on price incentives is implemented by the retailer. Special attention is devoted to the issue of limited self-determination in a channel-based price differentiation context. Research methods: The data comes from a questionnaire survey carried out in 2021. This study is a quantitative study employing a scenario-based approach. The total sample size is 500, cosmetics was the product category which the questionnaire was prepared for. For the purpose of the research, a SEM (Structural Equation Modelling) analysis using AMOS 26 was conducted. Main findings: This research extends the understanding of consumer limited self-determination and subjective knowledge and mobile app familiarity and its influence on the intention to buy offline when price incentives are provided in a mobile purchase app. Article adds to the existing literature on customer migration in a multichannel environment.
Keywords
