Abstract

This research project developed a framework for assessing digital transformation (DT) maturity in large government-owned corporations (GOCs), focusing on integrating building information modelling (BIM), digital engineering (DE) practices, value of information, data integration aspects, and critical information management competencies, relating to asset management, asset delivery, and asset performance. Recognising DT’s strategic importance in asset lifecycle management, researchers created a practical DT maturity assessment tool applied to an Australian GOC. The framework and Excel assessment tool outline DT maturity across seven categories and 56 indicators, using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) to rank indicators based on expert input. The tool enables straightforward data input and DT maturity evaluation, helping organisations understand their current DT status and set improvement targets. Workshops with DT professionals validated the tool’s effectiveness through a case study, offering insights into DT maturity levels and a roadmap for technological integration and data-driven decision-making. The research highlights DT’s role in enhancing efficiency, innovation, and safety, emphasising the need for strategic alignment with organisational objectives.

Introduction

The building and infrastructure industries are gradually transitioning towards building information modelling (BIM) as an object-based digital representation of an asset’s physical and functional characteristics [1], [2] and digital engineering (DE) practices to enable more productive methods of planning, designing, constructing, operating, and maintaining assets, using digital processes [3]. As detailed later in the paper, “digital” encompasses approaches, tools and technologies such as BIM and DE together with data science, the Internet of Things (IoT), and AI solutions integrated to digitise assets throughout the lifecycle. Asset owners recognise the importance of digital transformation (DT) in delivering and managing assets [4], as it offers many benefits throughout the asset lifecycle and can enhance efficiency, value for money, productivity, innovation, and safety.

1.1. DT of large infrastructure asset ownersGovernments and government-owned corporations (GOCs) are typically owners and operators of large assets, such as buildings, infrastructure, and other asset holdings across the spectrum of services. Governments and industries must transition from ‘digital by exception’ towards ‘digital by default’ [5], [6]. The infrastructure sector should adopt an evidence-based approach to infrastructure planning, delivery, and operations, including BIM, DE, embedded sensors, and digital asset management [7]. DT offers significant potential value and benefits to government agencies that manage assets across the whole-of-asset lifecycle. DT can assist in strategic investing and partnering with local governments and industry to deliver more benefits, including [8]:

Conclusion

The dynamic evolution of the building and infrastructure sectors towards digitalised practices underscores the growing importance of asset owners engaging in comprehensive DT. This research project has developed a multifaceted framework for assessing DT maturity tailored to the needs of large GOCs.

The existing assessment tools and methods have been reviewed for suitability in assessing the DT in whole-of-life asset owner organisations. The reviewed tools offer varying assessment scopes, including a capability assessment, maturity assessment, and benchmarking. The need and potential benefit of a new maturity assessment tool that would balance assessment accuracy and completion efficiency were established based on the shortcomings and limitations of existing DT maturity tools and methods. The key contributions of the new DT maturity assessment framework and tool developed by the research team include (i) a holistic view on the assessment of how well organisations use data and digital solutions, focusing on BIM capabilities, the value of information, data integration aspects, components of the smart city concept and critical information management competencies; (ii) an evidence-based scoring approach including assigning weight to various assessment indicators based on their importance to ensure the accuracy of the assessment; (iii) a multiperspective assessment allowing for more accurate organisation-wide analysis; (iv) short-term and long-term recommendations based on the current and target levels gap to facilitate performance improvement while realising the benefits and value of getting to each maturity level.

Abstract

Due to the industrial revolution and, thereby with, the emergence of Industry 4.0, there has been an impact on the marketing of business firms, enabling them to digitally transform and adopt Marketing 4.0 practices supported by smart technologies. One of these is Big Data Analytics (BDA), which enables a firm to improve its marketing practices. The main objective of this study is to evaluate how integrating big data technology improves the marketing strategies of Indian FMCG companies operating in a dynamic and highly competitive market distinguished by its size and diversity, constantly changing consumer behaviour, and Marketing 4.0 trends. This study adopts a systematic approach to coding an interview with seasoned Indian FMCG professionals to explain the capabilities of Big Data in molding marketing practices. A framework is constructed based on the same. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed to visualize its applicability in business. Further, the Resource-based View (RBV) theory is discussed for describing the insights into the role and adoption of Big Data by Indian FMCG firms for enhancing performance and achieving competitiveness, along with demonstrating its benefits for decision-making, customer loyalty and internal capability assessment.

Introduction

With technological advancements, industries now utilize innovative technologies that bolster a range of corporate activities and procedures, profoundly influencing the internal operations of these firms. (Cammarano et al., 2023, Singh et al., 2022b). The fourth industrial revolution, known as Industry 4.0, which is driving this technological change for business firms, serves as a bridge between intelligent products and adaptive processes and has a significant impact on both business models and production processes (Rosário & Dias, 2022; Salkin et al., 2018). Industry 4.0 enables the digital transformation of firms, which is further impacted by different internal and external factors related to the firm. The digital transformation is required to improve customer experiences and retain customers (Kitsios et al., 2021). Despite their implementation challenges and hazards, these advancements increase market analytics, cost, channel management, client connections, professional skills, and organizational procedures (Pascucci et al., 2023). With Industry 4.0, there is a steady trend towards understanding the consumers, which includes their needs, behaviours, storytelling, and anticipation (Lampropoulos, 2023; White & Pathak, 2023). These are the core components of marketing techniques that have evolved into marketing 4.0 (Yakut, 2022). As an outcome of the emergence of trends like Big Data (BD), social media, corporate social responsibility, and e-commerce, the shift to Marketing 4.0 is accelerating (Guven, 2020). Marketing 4.0 is driven by the convergence of offline and online marketing strategies and incorporates technical advancements to provide better flexibility (Rathod et al., 2020; Kotler et al., 2017). The improvement of the consumer experience, the induction of repurchase intention, and brand promotion are some of the significant achievements of Marketing 4.0 (Dash et al., 2023). Consumer usage patterns of social media, online platforms, search engines, contextual interactions, and community influences are some of the areas the companies are looking into. Companies use the information mainly for promotional and consumer engagement activities. The consumers are seen to be transformed into advocates through marketing 4.0, where a sense of community building takes place, resulting in a meaningful engagement of the marketers and consumers (Gau, 2019).

Conclusion

This study discusses and examines the role of BD and how an FMCG firm can adopt BD to improve its overall performance and attain a competitive position in the market. This research is the first of its kind to explore the implications of BD in the Indian FMCG sector. The relationship among BD, marketing practices and FMCG from in Indian perspective is a unique contribution to this paper. In addition to its usefulness, the study explores the crucial roles that automation and decision science play. This study discusses the benefits the firm achieves for accepting BD in the business. The study reveals some of how BD helps in decision-making for FMCG firms. For Indian FMCG firms, BD is crucial to value creation and achieving business operations’ scalability. FMCG organizations are using BD and analytics solutions more and more since they help create value, scale corporate operations, and increase output in today’s competitive market. BD makes it possible to analyze consumer preferences and behaviour at each transaction stage with a business. FMCG companies may now provide personalized experiences through targeted messaging, unique offers, and channel-specific communication optimization. BD also offers in-the-moment customer insights via sentiment, preference, and behaviour research, which aids FMCG companies in creating goods that enhance customer experiences and provide them with the necessary competitive edge.

Additionally, BD facilitates effective market campaigns through real-time predictions, data processing, and analysis. BD can also be strategically used through automation, new business model innovation, decision science, and risk management. Furthermore, customer segmentation based on BD makes marketing techniques more effective, and real-time customer insights, like sentiment analysis and tracking of consumer preferences and behavior, help organizations respond quickly to market changes.

Abstract

This paper analyzes the effect of digital marketing and cluster membership on the entrepreneurship and performance of dental clinics in Colombia. The use of different digital marketing tools in dental clinics is evaluated, and the effect of these tools on the creation of new markets, and clinics’ services and general performance, are analyzed. In addition, the cluster effect on the learning and implementation of digital tools in individual clinics is studied. The results show the most effective digital tools to create new markets, as well as the tools that improve clinics’ performance through the Internet image and online visibility. The combined use of corporate Facebook and Instagram, a robust website with wide online visibility and YouTube develops the image of companies on the Internet in the most effective way. In addition, the importance of belonging to a cluster in the learning and implementation of digital tools in individual clinics was verified.

Introduction

The evolution of digital media in recent years has brought about opportunities to more effectively enter new markets (Romero Leguina et al., 2020). The evolution of digital tools allows online marketing to become very effective (Cizmeci & Ercan, 2015). Marketing campaigns through digital media enable the obtained results to be ccurately measured and, thus, allow to adjust marketing much more efficiently than traditional marketing by generating high returns on marketing investments. Currently, consumers use both online and offline channels in their search for products and services, to inform themselves of their quality and prices, and to, finally, make purchase decisions (Rangaswamy et al., 2020). The advance and acceptance of the Internet as a channel of information and purchase render clear presence in digital media as necessary because it is the organization’s visibility and Internet image that decide constantly growing online sales.

One business that is depending more on digital marketing is dentistry heath care. The current esthetics trend in dentistry forces the results of the work carried out by a clinic to be advertised before a patient decides to hire its services. Continuously displaying the results of its work and making the most of all the available digital tools to generate patient trust are crucial for dental clinics. Trust is the basis on which clients select a specialist to do any esthetic treatment (Song et al., 2023).

Conclusions

This study explores the role played by digital marketing tools in two important elements of performance of the dental health industry: capacity use and creation of new markets. The digital marketing ROI is also analyzed. Digital tools enable access to the targeted segments of the population in a very efficient and precise way. They help to know clients’ needs and tastes, and the degree of acceptance of products and services. They also allow to profound knowledge of the market and competitors to be acquired.

The main novelty of this study compared to past research lies in the fact that the analysis of the digital marketing effects was done directly through individual tools by analyzing their functions within different marketing activities. Thus, an Internet brand image construct can be created to differentiate specific effects on online visibility and client trust. The importance of digital tools is also analyzed individually in creation of new markets and their general effect on marketing performance through the digital marketing ROI.

Abstract

     While there is a growing body of research on influencer marketing, it focuses almost exclusively on the consumer marketing context, and offers limited insights for business-to-business (B2B) organizations. To address this gap, the purpose of this study is to explore the use of influencer marketing in B2B markets. We draw empirical insights from 22 interviews with a) 12 senior marketing managers representing influencer marketing users in various B2B industries, ranging from industrial product manufacturers to professional service providers, and b) 10 experts from marketing agencies who advise other B2B firms on how to apply influencer marketing. The study findings identify the key elements of influencer marketing in B2B markets, and reveal four different strategies that B2B organizations use to operationalize the influencer marketing concept in practice. The study contributes to theory by providing the first empirical conceptualization of the B2B influencer marketing phenomenon. In doing so, the study widens the scope of influencer marketing to accommodate broader collaborations with influencers, which has significant implications across B2B and B2C contexts. For managers, this study offers alternative strategies to implement influencer marketing, which are associated with unique characteristics and serve different business goals.

Introduction

     Influencer marketing is gaining popularity as a key component of firms’ digital marketing strategy (Appel, Grewal, Hadi & Stephen, 2020; Li, Larimo, & Leonidou, 2020), manifested in the market growth of global influencer marketing from $1.7 billion (USD) in 2016 to $13.8 billion in 2021 (Statista, 2021). While influencer marketing is often associated with consumer brands, multiple industry reports indicate that it is gaining momentum in the business-to-business (B2B) industries, too (e.g., Morgan, 2020; Hyder, 2019; Shea, 2018; TopRank Marketing, 2020). The increasing interest in B2B influencer marketing is being driven by contemporary B2B buying behavior, where buyers have become more self-directed in their purchasing processes, and complete a significant number of purchase-related tasks before contacting potential vendors (Järvinen & Taiminen, 2016; Steward, Narus, Roehm, & Ritz, 2019; Terho, Mero, Siutla, & Jaakkola, 2022). In turn, the independent online research relies heavily on digital content, and B2B buyers trust in content produced by third-party experts and peers (Shea, 2018). Given the significant role of trust in forming B2B relationships, influencer marketing provides a credible means to influence the self-directed B2B buying processes.

      Industry case studies show that influencer marketing can provide substantial benefits to B2B firms. For example, SAP, a software company, created the TechUnknown podcast, where an influencer host discussed various topics around technology with industry experts and SAP’s internal executives, resulting in a 66% increase in their podcast downloads. Furthermore, Cherwell Software shifted its business focus from IT service management to supporting companies with digital transformation, and used influencer marketing to build credibility for its new focus. The firm partnered with technology experts and achieved a 342% better click-through rate on influencer content, compared with the performance of its past campaigns (TopRank Marketing, 2020). However, while 74% of B2B marketers see the potential of influencer marketing to drive business benefits, only 19% are running systematic influencer marketing programs (Hyder, 2019). In fact, 60% of B2B firms report they do not have the skills or knowledge to implement influencer marketing programs, and one of the key reasons is that the current knowledge and best practices in influencer marketing come from consumer marketing contexts, which are not directly transferable to B2B contexts (TopRank Marketing, 2020).

Conclusions

6.1. Contributions and theoretical implications
Influencer marketing is a rapidly emerging, yet thus far relatively underexplored management practice in B2B markets. While there is a growing body of research on influencer marketing in general (Hudders et al., 2021; Sundermann & Raabe, 2019; Vrontis et al., 2021), it is almost exclusively focused on consumer markets, product-centric promotions in social media, and consumer attitudes and behaviors, providing only limited insights into the organizational processes and unique characteristics of influencer marketing in B2B markets. Against this background, this study provides two major contributions.

     First, it provides a novel and empirically grounded conceptualization of the influencer marketing concept in the B2B market context, outlining its key elements and boundaries, and positioning it relative to established B2B marketing concepts. The conceptualization broadens the scope of influencer marketing, from product endorsements distributed on social media via external individuals in exchange for tangible rewards to multi-channel content creation and delivery by internal and external influencers on the basis of their mutual interests. This provides new knowledge by clearly differentiating the B2B influencer marketing concept from consumer influencer marketing, and highlighting the unique characteristics of influencer marketing in the B2B context. These findings provide important and thus far missing insights into the influencer marketing literature, which has been focused on the B2C context (e.g., Hudders et al., 2021; Leung, Gu, & Palmatier, 2022; Vrontis et al., 2021) and help explain why influencer marketing insights from the consumer marketing context are not directly transferable to the B2B context.

Abstract

     Digital marketing has been on the epicentre of many researches. However, there is the need to make clear which are the current trends of the Digital Marketing Strategies regarding luxurious hotels. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has seriously “damaged” the hospitality industry and it has affected the digital marketing strategies of hotels. The aim of this paper is the evaluation of the most recent applications of digital marketing and especially the social media used by luxurious hotels and their guests (such as Facebook, Trip-advisor). The outcome of the research indicates that social media play a key role on the marketing of luxurious hotels. More specifically, a hotel should take into serious consideration the reviews made on social media by customers. A review can leverage a hotel but also it can doom its reputation. For this reason, the practitioners must give special attention on the reviews that the guests post on social media. The methodology of the paper is literature review. Hence, it will rely on publications. The authors have collected publications from various academic databases, such as SCOPUS, by using the appropriate keywords. The publications were selected based on how relative are with the purpose of this paper. To sum up, the hotel industry has to face a major challenge due to COVID-19 crisis. This crisis, which is an ongoing phenomenon, is expected to change the way that hotels are copying with. One of the changes that the hotel should take into consideration is which strategy will use on social media. This paper has relied on existing theories and speculations that have been made by several authors and they have not been cross-checked with primary researches. Therefore, there is the need for more primary data coming from upcoming publications.

Introduction

     The tourist industry is important for the economy of many countries, such as Greece [1], [2], [3], [4]. An important insight of tourism is the fact that during the past years it had developed a number of different approaches as far as hospitality is concerned as well as it had developed different models of tourist development [5]. At this point, there are surveys about which tourist development model can be the most effective and it can bring wealth and sustainability for a tourist destination. For example, mass tourism has been heavily criticized for its consequences on the destinations [6], through [7] have argued that luxury-based tourism cannot generate wealth for the sum of the economy of a destination, like mass tourism can do, hence it is important for a destination to try a combination of tourist models. Nonetheless, the majority of the tourist industry experts as well as the academics conclude that luxury tourism can bring a number of benefits for a destination and also can contribute to its sustainability [8].

Conclusions

     The paper has examined the latest trends on digital marketing. As it is indicated by various researches [1], [77], [78], [75] the use of digital marketing can bring a number of benefits for a luxury hotel [79], [80]. Nonetheless, it is important to remark the fact that digital marketing, as it happens today mostly by social media, may hide a number of threats which can create a negative image of the hotel. Most of the threats derive by the negative comments on social media and the inability of the hotel’s management to convert the negative comments. Based on the findings of the above mentioned researches this is the most critical point for the digital campaign of a hotel. For this reason, there is a need for further future research which will help the academia and the practitioners to better understand the case of digital marketing and especially of the reviews made. Especially the current situation with the COVID-19 pandemic, means that digital marketing may play a crucial role for the recovery of the tourist industry [81], [82], [83]. For this reason, future research should direct to the use of social media and overall of digital marketing, in order to recover from the pandemic of COVID-19.

Abstract

1. Introduction

2. Literature review

3. Methodology

4. Findings

5. Discussion

6. Limitations and future research

References

Abstract

     Despite the widely acknowledged benefits of digital marketing, many B2B SMEs have been slow to adopt these practices. These firms’ characteristics and ways of working mean that digital marketing as practiced in B2C or in larger firms may be unsuitable. This paper aims to increase understanding about digital marketing in B2B SMEs, by examining the barriers they face and the digital practices that work for them. A qualitative research methodology is used to focus on these previously unexplored practices in small B2B firms operating with the oil and gas industry. The study identifies the internal and external factors linked to this B2B SME context that both influence and act as barriers to digital marketing practice. The distinctive pattern of marketing practices arising from this combination of factors and the limited role of digital marketing within it, are revealed. These insights extend the debate about digital marketing’s use by showing empirically that a “one size fits all” ways of thinking about digital marketing is not appropriate for B2B SMEs. The implications for researchers and practicing managers are considered.

Introduction

     The benefits associated with digital marketing have been widely explored in B2C (Ashley & Tuten, 2015; De Vries, Gensler, & Leeflang, 2012), including its ability to increase sales, reduce costs, build customer insight, develop customer relationships, add value and strengthen the brand (Chaffey & Smith, 2017). Much less is known about digital marketing’s use or benefits in B2B firms (Brink, 2017; Karjaluoto, Mustonen, & Ulkuniemi, 2015; Leek, Houghton, & Canning, 2019; Taiminen & Karjaluoto, 2015) or in SMEs (Quinton, Canhoto, Molinillo, Pera, & Budhathoki, 2018; Quinton & Simkin, 2017); with significant gaps in knowledge about its application in B2B SMEs.

     Digital marketing refers to a range of practices that include the use of digital communication channels, such as websites, search engine marketing, digital advertising, social media, e-mails and mobile; in order to acquire, retain and build relationships with customers (Karjaluoto et al., 2015; Mulhern, 2009; Wymbs, 2011).1 The need to examine the role of digital in B2B marketing has recently been acknowledged (Kim & Moon, 2021), as the literature mainly concentrates on these firms’ growing interest in social media (e.g., Christodoulides, Michaelidou, & Siamagka, 2019; Iankova, Davies, Archer-Brown, Marder, & Yau, 2019; Juntunen, Ismagilova, & Oikarinen, 2020; LaPlaca & Lindgreen, 2016; Leek et al., 2019; Pitt, Plangger, Botha, Kietzmann, & Pitt, 2019; Wang, Malthouse, Calder, & Uzunoglu, 2019). While the focus in B2Bs on relationship building suggests they ought to have much to gain from using digital marketing, even the adoption of social media by these firms remains limited (Juntunen et al., 2020; Leek et al., 2019). In SMEs, despite evidence that business performance can be enhanced through digital marketing (Cenamor, Parida, & Wincent, 2019), the adoption of these practices remains low level and the reasons why are poorly understood (Quinton et al., 2018; Quinton & Simkin, 2017).

Findings

     The findings demonstrate the simplistic and somewhat limited application of digital marketing by B2B SMEs from the oil and gas industry and identify some of the challenges faced. Insights are provided from the two sets of interviewees. The marketing agency managers describe the potential benefits of digital marketing and offer an expert view of what good practice could look like for firms that embrace it. The managers from the small B2Bs provide a different perspective, explaining how digital marketing should fit within their broader business practices and how it can be used to support these existing ways of doing business. Rather than extolling digital marketing’s benefits, these managers were quick to identify the challenges they faced in its adoption. At the same time, the findings indicate an alignment in how these two interviewee groups explain the business practices within these B2B SMEs: generational differences, focus on relationships, limited resources, limited marketing role and supporting digital marketing role in business practice.

Highlights

Abstract

Keywords

1. Introduction

2. Related work

3. Proposed method

4. Case study: user controversial behaviour in online data service

5. Experiment and discussion

6. Conclusion and future work

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Acknowledgments

References

Vitae

Abstract

Nowadays, online word-of-mouth has an increasing impact on people’s views and decisions, which has attracted many people’s attention.The classification and sentiment analyse in online consumer reviews have attracted significant research concerns. In this thesis, we propose and implement a new method to study the extraction and classification of online dating services(ODS)’s comments. Different from traditional emotional analysis which mainly focuses on product attribution, we attempted to infer and extract the emotion concept of each emotional reviews by introducing social cognitive theory. In this study, we selected 4,300 comments with extremely negative/positive emotions published on dating websites as a sample, and used three machine learning algorithms to analyze emotions. When testing and comparing the efficiency of user’s behavior research, we use various sentiment analysis, machine learning techniques and dictionary-based sentiment analysis. We found that the combination of machine learning and lexicon-based method can achieve higher accuracy than any type of sentiment analysis. This research will provide a new perspective for the task of user behavior.

1. Introduction

As global Internet presentations continue to increase, the number of consumers who provide online comments have increased significantly (Lu & Bai, 2021). If exploited properly, abundant data should produce useful insights. One insight that can be obtained from the statistics is the information of electronic word of mouth (EWOM). EWOM is known for its significant impact on consumer behavior (Tobon & García-Madariaga, 2021). EWOM communication framework demostrates the direct relation of adopting EWOM and consumers’ willingness to purchase. EWOM can provide objective information for more and more consumers who trust these communications (Yaniv & Shalom, 2021).Comment mining concerning sentiment analysis is considered to be a suite of proceedings for identifying sentiments, opinions and author’s attitudes in texts, transforming them into meaningful information and using them to make business decisions (Siddiqui et al., 2021).

Sentiment classification identifies opinions and arguments in a given text, and it is part of opinion mining. It tries to find statements of agreement or disagreement in comments or reviews that involve positive, negative or neutral statements. Sentiment analysis has attracted widespread attention and has been widely used in many fields (Wang & Zhang, 2020). Up to now, many approaches of sentiment analysis have been proposed, which can be roughly split into document-level, sentence-level and aspect-level(Jiang, Chan, Eichelberger, Ma, & Pikkemaat, 2021).Most of the work of sentiment analysis can be achieved by assessing the document’s polarity.Phrase and sentence levels have become common increasingly in recent years.Dictionary-based and machine learning approaches are two of the most common uses of emotion analysis(Ahlem & Khalil, 2020).

Abstract

     In the emerging retail market, e-tailers operating in developing economies have to cope with the rapid use of the Internet, new electronic purchasing methods and online selling platforms. However, e-tailers do not understand the effect patterns in which customer engagement on purchase intention and customer acquisition. From e-tailers’ perspective, this study explores how customer engagement behaviors are related to both purchase intention and customer acquisition. We obtained live streaming data in the mature e-tail live streaming market environment and found empirical evidence supporting the conceptual framework through regression model analysis. The analysis results show that the specific indicators of the customer engagement are not all positively related to customer purchase intention and customer acquisition, and it is worth noting that the influence of “like” behavior on customer acquisition is no statistical significance. This is expected to encourage e-tailers to rethink their focus on customer acquisition and sales enhancement digital strategies as they operate in emerging markets.

Introduction

     Live streaming e-commerce has become the fastest growing new form of e-commerce in the world in the last three years. According to data from T-mall in China, within 48h of the 618 shopping festival in 2021, the live streaming e-commerce transaction volume of brand stores increased by more than 100% compared to the same period last year, and the number of live broadcast rooms of stores with a transaction of more than 10 million yuan was more than twice that of the same period last year. “Improve business efficiency through Taobao Live” has been recognized by many brands. And many international brands have used Taobao Live to reach Chinese consumers. Live streaming e-commerce has also been widely concerned with consumers in its novel form of commodity display, affordable and convenient. According to the 47th Statistical Report on Internet Development in China (CINIC, 2021), as of December 2020, the scale of online streaming users in China has reached 388 million, and 66.2% of online consumers have bought live streaming merchandise. Live streaming provides customers with added value and additional channels for customer engagement, making it a popular shopping method among consumers. Whether from the perspective of consumers or e-tailers, live streaming will become the mainstream e-commerce mode, as consumers will not change once their shopping patterns are formed.

Conclusion

     At a broader level, this paper was motivated by the observation that e-tailers do not understand the effect patterns in which live streaming service on their benefit, i.e., purchase intention and customer acquisition. The notion of engaging is reflected by customer co-creative and interactive experiences (Vargo and Lusch, 2008), so we focus on the customer engagement in the context of live streaming.

     Based on the prior research and data availability, we firstly determined the customer engagement behavior indicators (customer visits, likes and comments) in the context of live streaming. Then, we revealed the relationship between these engagement behavior indicators and purchase intention and customer acquisition, respectively, through empirical analysis. Consistent with most studies, customer engagement has a positive effect on purchase intentions, but the degree of impact varies across engagement behaviors, and, for customer acquisition, some engagement behaviors even have a negative impact. Overall, the finding of this paper highlights the important point that different engagement behaviors may have different effects. The retail business may benefit more from studies segmenting these engagement behaviors. Of course, the lack of access to specific data measuring increased sales and increased customers is a major limitation of our study, and in the future, we hope to work with brands to obtain specific data to further validate the findings of this study. While the limitations of our study go beyond this, our findings provide some inspiration for future researchers in the areas of live streaming e-commerce, customer engagement, and relationship marketing.

Abstract

     Virtual technologies will change the way we consume in the digital environment in the future. Such technologies can provide consumers with a multi-sensory experience in contrast to the single-sensory stimulus in the conventional online environment. As human senses play a key role in consumption choices, we argue that virtual technologies provide greater opportunities to influence consumer decisions than the present digital environment. Consequently, we suggest that virtual technologies can potentially be used to nudge consumers towards sustainable consumption. We discuss technology-assisted sensory marketing, present the cognitive and emotive aspects of virtual reality, and propose applications of virtual reality technologies to encourage sustainable consumption. Our opinion paper concludes that virtual technologies are likely to change many aspects of human life and can have significant positive effects on the environment and climate change.

Introduction

     It is nothing new that the production, processing, packaging, transport, and consumption of consumer goods require the use of natural resources and that they pollute the environment. Indeed, human consumption has a direct impact on the environment, but it is also a major force for change through consumption choices (e.g., Halder, Hansen, Kangas, & Laukkanen, 2020). The human senses play a key role in consumption choices (Biswas, 2019) and these sensations can influence decision-making unconsciously (Krishna & Schwarz, 2014). Consequently, retailers can nudge consumer decisions by altering sensory cues (Biswas et al., 2014, van Kleef et al., 2014) and have significant managerial implications (Biswas, 2019). In fact, the most pleasurable experiences in life involve the simultaneous stimulation of multiple senses (Krishna, 2012, Tynan and McKechnie, 2009). However, consumption today increasingly takes place in digital environments that are limited in providing sensory cues to consumers and in practice provide only single-sensory stimulus. Does this deficiency put our ability to influence consumer experiences and choices at risk?

Conclusions

     The most obvious opportunity for virtual technologies in terms of promoting sustainable consumption relates to lessening the need to travel from one place to another, and this applies not only to leisure travelling in virtual reality, which has become one of the trends of today, but also to other aspects of human life such as meeting with other people, working, and shopping. Once technological development is taken a bit further and VR devices become more end-user friendly, this is likely to change many aspects of human life, which can have a remarkable environmentally friendly impact and reduce the carbon footprint. Additionally, virtual technologies enable an effective way to promote sustainable consumer behavior and to illustrate the impact that our every-day consumption decisions have in real life. We hope to see such developments more in the future.

Abstract

1. Introduction

2. Literature Review

3. Research Hypotheses and Proposed Model

4. Methods

5. Results

6. Discussions

7. Conclusions

Appendix A

References

Abstract

     This study is focused on communications that come from consumer-to-consumer (C2C) ecommerce relationships. This topic is directly associated with the electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) phenomenon. eWOM is related to the set of positive or negative opinions made by potential, actual, or former customers about a seller. The present study proposes a structural equation modeling with partial least squares (PLS-SEM) research model to analyze consumers’ opinions impact on attitude toward purchasing. This model is based on the Information Adoption Model (IAM) in combination with an ecommerce satisfaction perspective, comprising five constructs: (1) service quality, (2) ecommerce satisfaction, (3) argument quality, (4) source credibility and (5) purchase intention. The model was tested by applying the Smart Partial Least Squares (SmartPLS) software for which 116 effective data from customers of the Taobao C2C platform were used. The findings reveal that all of the defined relationships were supported, confirming the positive impact of all the proposed constructs on the purchase intention. In this respect, the findings suggest that C2C platforms should strengthen the analyzed connections to grow the business and to promote transactions. Finally, implications and limitations related to the explanatory capacity and the sample are identified.

Introduction

     In recent years, many consumer-to-consumer (hereafter, C2C) ecommerce platforms have emerged [1]. Considering the type of goods, some remarkable examples can be identified, such as Avancar, SocialCar or Blablacar for car-sharing or rental services; Airbnb for accommodations; or Wallapop and Taobao for second-hand goods [2,3], among many others. This phenomenon is also known as collaborative consumption. In fact, some authors have considered it as a reinvention of traditional markets [4], such as bartering or exchange. In this manner, collaborative consumption can now be developed on a global scale thanks to technology [5], promoting the reasonable use of goods [6].

     In this context, the success of these platforms is largely determined by the registered opinion of its users [7]. In this sense, consumers frequently make decisions related to purchases only under the influence of opinions exposed by other consumers [8]. In fact, the shopping experience is as important as sharing this shopping experience to influence the purchase process [9]. Thus, this study is associated with the topic of electronic wordof-mouth (eWOM) relationships. In this respect, according to [10], eWOM refers to “any positive or negative statement made by potential, actual, or former customers about a productor company, which is made available to a multitude of people and institutions via the Internet”

Results and analyses

     The present work was an attempt to test the purchase intention in C2C platforms, mainly applying the IAM framework. In this respect, the definition of a PLS-SEM model allowed to draw relevant conclusions about the role of information transmission coming from online communications in C2C relationships. In addition, based on the findings obtained, it was possible to identify the factors that, within the C2C, incentivize purchase intention. They include (1) service quality, (2) ecommerce satisfaction, (3) argument quality and (4) source credibility. In fact, the findings have provided useful data for clarifying the most relevant factors that impact purchase intentions. Overall, the present analysis clearly confirms that the success of C2C platforms could be determined by dimensions related to the direct relationships between consumers, which allow generating trust to complete a purchase. In a similar way, in answering the research question, we can affirm the validity of IAM to explain the eWOM impact on purchase intention in combination with an ecommerce satisfaction perspective.

     plications are proposed. First, this study extended knowledge about C2C ecommerce. In this way, additional empirical evidence has been provided for ulterior research to evaluate the purchase intention in C2C enabling new advances in the field. Second, adopting a managerial view, comprehending the dimensions associated with online purchases is profitable for the C2C online platforms. In this manner, these findings suggest that C2C platforms should strengthen the analyzed connections to grow the business and to promote transactions.

This research contributes to broadening understanding of online retailing across electronic channels (e-channels, e.g., mobile devices) and e-channel touchpoints (e.g., mobile shopping apps) from a consumer perspective. Based on the multichannel retailing approach and theoretical considerations, the authors suggest an enhanced perspective on the online retailing environment and validate this multichannel e-commerce perspective by conducting both an online survey (N = 502) and an experimental study (N = 126). The results indicate that online retailing can be classified into four e-commerce categories that entail individual e-channel touchpoints, emphasizing the need for a more differentiated consideration of “the online channel.” This work advances marketing research and practice by illustrating that both technology-related quality and context-related situational benefit affect consumers’ utilization of e-channels. Further findings show that retailers can enhance consumers’ shopping experiences by providing alternative e-channel touchpoints (i.e., specific digital shopping formats) that contribute differently to the online customer journey.

Introduction

Researchers recognize that the range of Internet-enabled devices that shoppers use to search for product information or to purchase products online has expanded (Grewal et al., 2017; Maity et al., 2018). With every device that allows individuals to access online retail offerings, such as computers, smartphones, tablets, and Internet-enabled TV, online shopping is becoming not only more versatile but also more complex. In the context of consumers’ channel choices, multichannel researchers have emphasized the need to understand the benefits that individuals derive from each retail channel to determine effective and efficient individual channel strategies and to employ customer-centric multichannel retailing strategies (e.g., Payne & Frow, 2005). Therefore, in this paper, we adopt the multichannel perspective for online retailing itself; that is, we investigate a multichannel e-commerce environment in which consumers conduct their online customer journeys across multiple e-channels (categories of Internet-enabled devices, e.g., mobile devices) and e-channel touchpoints (specific digital shopping formats, e.g., mobile shopping apps). The distinction between an e-channel and an e-channel touchpoint is necessary because an e-channel represents the hardware alternatives that consumers can use to shop online, while an e-channel touchpoint represents the software alternatives that retailers can provide for e-channels. Because of the various combinations of hardware and software, it can be expected that the same online retail offering will shape online customer experiences differently depending on the fit of the e-channel and the e-channel touchpoint.

Nowadays, retailers are interested in how customer preferences regarding service quality are changing due to the adoption of different devices for shopping purposes in both the desktop and mobile contexts. To answer this question, this paper first replicates, in the mobile commerce (m-commerce) context, the results from Blut et al. (2015), who conducted a meta-analytic review of electronic service quality. Replication results question the robustness and generalizability of the conceptualization in the mobile service quality context. Thereby, practitioners and academics are encouraged to adapt a customer-centric approach in organizing marketing practices. The replication extends the conceptualization of electronic service quality by considering a unique dimension named ubiquity of services, defined as the retailer’s ability to provide offers based on location and time. To reveal psychological mechanisms explaining the results of the replication study, a follow-up study draws on these contextual factors. In this context, this study uses a quasi-experimental approach by utilizing propensity score matching to account for self-selection effects to examine differences between desktop and mobile device users. As a result, this research contributes to the literature by identifying contextual boundary conditions regarding the shopping trip intentions and risk perceptions of mobile device users and desktop device users. Based on the results, major implications for retailers and further research are given.

Introduction

Nowadays, retailers are interested in how customer preferences regarding service quality are changing due to the adoption of different devices for shopping purposes in both the desktop and mobile contexts (e.g., Kannan and Li, 2017; Kumar, 2018; Marketing Science Institute, 2018; Souiden et al., 2018). Whereas the desktop context is mainly represented by laptops and desktop computers, customers are increasingly using smartphones and tablets as primary devices for shopping in the mobile context (Criteo, 2018). This classification is reasonable, since recent research indicates that tablets act as complementary devices for smartphones and as substitutes for laptop or desktop computers, respectively (Xu et al., 2017). In order to better understand and satisfy customer needs, and therefore to generate greater revenue, retailers are advised to adopt a customer-centric approach in organizing their marketing practices around distinct customer groups (e.g., mobile device users and desktop device users) rather than product categories (Althuizen, 2018; Crecelius et al., 2019). Consequently, the main goal of this research is to compare shopping trip perceptions and intentions of e and m-commerce users in order to enable customer-centric marketing practices. To achieve this goal, a replication study and a follow-up study will be conducted. First, the replication study is justified by the rise of mobile devices as primary shopping device (Criteo, 2018). In this context, retailers are still struggling to deliver satisfactory levels of mobile service quality (MSQ), resulting in lower conversion rates and higher shopping cart abandonment rates compared to the electronic counterpart (de Haan et al., 2018; Huang et al., 2018; Kaatz et al., 2019).

Digital marketing is leading the way in offering new features to reach, inform, engage, offer, and sell products and services to customers, and is expected to continue to be at the forefront of the technological revolution. The purpose of this study is to identify influential cited works in digital marketing communication (DMC) research, to determine the current status of the research on DMC, and to indicate the extent to which influential works have shaped it. This bibliometric study assesses articles published over a 12-year period in core DMC-related journals. The analysis examines 5865 citations of 141 digital-related articles in the targeted journals in the given publications using both citation and co-citation analyses. After a broad disciplinary review of key cited DMC works, this study suggests thematic insights and implications for academics and practitioners that are promising avenues for creating effective DMC.

Introduction

Digital marketing offers new ways to reach, inform, and engage customers and to offer and sell them products and services. It does this very successfully and thus, digital marketing is expected to remain at the forefront of the technological revolution (Ko, 2019; Lamberton & Stephen, 2016; Martín-Consuegra, Faraoni, Díaz, & Ranfagni, 2018). Digital marketing via social and mobile media has rapidly become part of the daily life of millions of people, expanding into common social media activities, and often leading to the creation of customer relationships (Fujita, Harrigan, & Soutar, 2017; Han, Nguyen, & Nguyen, 2016; Kim, 2018; Woodside & Mir, 2019). Social engagement, diffusion, and interaction are keys to the digital marketing evolution, and have enhanced firms’ ability to engage customers by reaching out, informing them about products and services, and ultimately selling these products and services to customers (Ko, 2019; Lamberton & Stephen, 2016; Martín-Consuegra et al., 2018). Increasing numbers of marketing academics and practitioners have studied the rapid evolution of digital technology, social media, and mobile marketing, and the technological innovations this evolution has inspired. Digital marketing has evolved from marketing specific products and services to using digital channels for activities, institutions, and processes facilitated by digital technologies. Digital marketing refers to an adaptive, technology-enabled process by which firms collaborate with customers and partners to create, communicate, deliver, and sustain value for all stakeholders jointly (Guercini, Bernal, & Prentice, 2018; Lamberton & Stephen, 2016). Digital technologies allow for new adaptive processes and institutions in marketing communication. Institutions build foundational capabilities to create such value jointly for their customers and themselves, while processes create value through new customer experiences and interactions among customers in new digital environments.