• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• 제17권2호
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• pp.123-137
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• 2007

The advent of the Internet and related Web technologies has created an easily accessible link between a firm and its customers, and has provided opportunities to a firm to use information technology to support supplementary after-sale services associated with a product or service. It has been widely recognized that supplementary services are an important source of customer value and of competitive advantage as the characteristics of the product itself. Many of these supplementary services are information-based and need not be co-located with the product, so more and more companies are delivering these services electronically. Net-based customer service, which is defined as an Internet-based computerized information system that delivers services to a customer, therefore, is the core infrastructure for supplementary service provision. The importance of net-based customer service in delivering supplementary after-sale services associated with product has been well documented. The strategic advantages of well-implemented net-based customer service are enhanced customer loyalty and higher lock-in of customers, and a resulting reduction in competition and the consequent increase in profits. However, not all customers utilize such net-based customer service. The digital divide is the phenomenon in our society that captures the observation that not all customers have equal access to computers. Socioeconomic factors such as race, gender, and education level are strongly related to Internet accessibility and ability to use. This is due to the differences in the ability to bear the cost of a computer, and the differences in self-efficacy in the use of a technology, among other reasons. This concept, applied to e-commerce, has been called the "e-commerce divide." High Internet penetration is not eradicating the digital divide and e-commerce divide as one would hope. Besides, to accommodate personalized support, a customer must often provide personal information to the firm. This personal information includes not only name and address, but also preferences information and perhaps valuation information. However, many recent studies show that consumers may not be willing to share information about themselves due to concerns about privacy online. Due to the e-commerce divide, and due to privacy and security concerns of the customer for sharing personal information with firms, limited numbers of customers adopt net-based customer service. The limited level of customer adoption of net-based customer service affects the firm profits and the customers' welfare. We use a game-theoretic model in which we model the net-based customer service system as a mechanism to enhance customers' loyalty. We model a market entry scenario where a firm (the incumbent) uses the net-based customer service system in inducing loyalty in its customer base. The firm sells one product through the traditional retailing channels and at a price set for these channels. Another firm (the entrant) enters the market, and having observed the price of the incumbent firm (and after deducing the loyalty levels in the customer base), chooses its price. The profits of the firms and the surplus of the two customers segments (the segment that utilizes net-based customer service and the segment that does not) are analyzed in the Stackelberg leader-follower model of competition between the firms. We find that an increase in adoption of net-based customer service by the customer base is not always desirable for firms. With low effectiveness in enhancing customer loyalty, firms prefer a high level of customer adoption of net-based customer service, because an increase in adoption rate decreases competition and increases profits. A firm in an industry where net-based customer service is highly effective loyalty mechanism, on the other hand, prefers a low level of adoption by customers.

• 지능정보연구
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• 제22권1호
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• pp.19-41
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• 2016

정보통신기술의 발전과 모바일 기기 사용의 생활화로 인해 최근 많은 소비자들이 멀티채널 쇼핑(multi-channel shopping)이라는 새로운 쇼핑 행태를 보이고 있다. 온라인 쇼핑이 등장한 이후, 온라인 매장에서 상품을 구매하기 전 오프라인 매장에서 상품을 먼저 확인하는 쇼루밍(showrooming) 형태의 멀티채널 쇼핑이 한 때 대세를 이루었으나, 최근에는 스마트폰, 태블릿 PC, 스마트워치 등 스마트 기기 사용의 폭발적 증가와 옴니채널(omni-channel) 전략으로 대표되는 오프라인 채널의 대대적 반격으로 인해 오프라인 매장에서 상품을 구매하기 전 온라인(혹은 모바일)으로 정보를 먼저 확인하는 웹루밍(webrooming) 현상이 도드라지게 나타나 온라인 소매업자를 위협하고 있다. 이러한 상황에서 소비자의 온라인 쇼핑에서 웹루밍으로의 쇼핑전환 의도에 영향을 미치는 요인을 분석하는 것이 의미가 있음에도 불구하고, 기존 대부분의 선행연구는 싱글채널(single-channel) 혹은 멀티채널 쇼핑 자체에만 초점을 맞추고 있다. 이에, 본 연구에서는 밀고-당기기-이주이론(push-pull-mooring theory)을 바탕으로 소비자의 온라인 채널 쇼핑이 웹루밍 형태의 쇼핑으로 전환되는 과정을 상품정보 탐색과 구매행위로 각각 구분하여 그 영향을 실증하였다. 연구모형을 검증하기 위하여, 웹루밍 경험이 있는 수도권 소재 대학생을 대상으로 280개의 설문 표본을 수집하였다. 본 연구의 결과는 현업 마케팅 종사자에게 멀티채널 소비자들을 관리하는 데 있어 실무적인 시사점을 제공함과 동시에, 향후 다양한 형태의 멀티채널 쇼핑전환 연구로의 확장에 기여할 수 있을 것으로 기대한다.