Γεώργιος Λαμπρόπουλος, Kerstin Siakas, Julio Viana, Olaf Reinhold
In the ever-increasing competitive and customer-centered global market, the role of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is essential to the performance, longevity, competitiveness and profitability of enterprises. The study aims to provide an overview of the impact of emerging technologies on traditional CRM and Social CRM. Therefore, through a critical review, this study explores the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchain, Big Data Analytics (BDA), Data Mining and Machine Learning (ML) technologies in CRM. Based on the results, the above-mentioned technologies can significantly improve CRM. More specifically, their successful implementation enables enterprises to stay ahead of competition, to get to know their customers, improve their overall performance, Quality of Experience (QoE) and Quality of Service (QoS), increase profits, and reduce time consumption, risks and costs. Finally, by integrating these technologies, enterprises will offer more personalized and customized products and services and greatly improve customers' satisfaction, acquisition, relationships, loyalty, experience and retention.
As fashion and retail technologies have become more sophisticated, consumers are vastly connected to the multiverse, both through the cloud and the integration of physical and digital spaces called phygital. This type of omnichannel commerce has become a requirement for brands to stay relevant. Developing parallel to the world of omnichannel has been digital gaming. Imagine these two worlds converged into one concept. Enter the metaverse. The idea of the metaverse or a virtual alternative reality is not new. With various iterations in pop culture, the concept of escaping into another dimension, whether dystopian or utopian, is part of the human psyche. Fast forward to a virtual post-pandemic society, the concept of the metaverse and the community it develops is timely. The metaverse allows the consumer to dive into a far more stimulating and immersive experience that have fashion brands collectively strategizing their deliveries. This article will conduct a discourse analysis on the metaverse and its gaming roots, how fashion and retail hope to build community and compelling applications of brand deliveries through these digital worlds. The article will review the adoption challenges that may arise with the consumer, applications that are kink free, privacy protection, regulation, payment systems, adoption of entrance devices and brand deliveries using NFTs or non-fungible tokens.
Satheeshkumar Sekar, Annamalai Solayappan, J. Srimathi, Shreya Raja · 8 authors
A blockchain is an advanced technology that can power over a decentralized network. The authors bring it up to design the autonomous transaction system for e-commerce applications; because of the dramatic increase in IoT devices, communication between physical things is enabled. This brings more efficiency and accuracy, which benefits the outsiders while human interaction reduces. There is a big challenge in data storage after payment in the e-commerce application. Blockchain presents an appropriate platform for the distributed data storage; it also protects the data from outsiders. The authors create blocks that check and record each transaction that took place in the e-commerce application. Blockchain is going to protect the user's privacy from outsiders/banks that are being violated. The authors deliver this research in this paper in terms of the method with detailed design and full implementation. The system captures the user data, processes it, and gives a visual representation of the processed data.
With non-fungible tokens (NFT) bringing fundamental change to digital business models, advanced opportunities for boosting customer engagement have opened. This paper discusses the functions of NFTs in offering brands ways to create more intimate relationships between consumers and brands and providing the consumers ownership of valuable, unique digital assets. Based on the case data and market information assessment up to August 2022, the current paper assesses how brands incorporate NFTs into loyalty programs and long-term customer engagement. A comparative analysis of models and a year-by-year trend shows that NFTs' impact continually overshadows the traditional approach. Based on the findings, technology adoption and market fluctuations remain issues. Still, NFTs offer a new outlook to businesses where a customer experience-oriented paradigm shift occurs, allowing brands to create deeper connections with consumers and increase customer lifetime value.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have registered tremendous growth in the past year, and their importance is expected to increase with the expected development of Web3. From a brand perspective, NFTs can be seen as representations of the brand components, such as the product, the logo, or the image. I argue that NFTs have immense potential to become standalone brand assets. I illustrate how this can be achieved by relating the brand's NFT strategies to the marketing funnel stages. Brands can turn into an NFT their physical products such as shoes, shirts, or art to attract brand awareness, generate cross-selling opportunities, and spark stronger perceived ownership of certain brand elements. Importantly, NFTs can allow brands to form a highly engaging brand community that can support the brand, blend online and offline product ownership, and potentially create a bond between the brand and consumers. These exciting possibilities generate a rich research agenda I present in this paper.
Open access
2 source records
Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification
The current study looked into the relationship between self-esteem and the use of cryptocurrencies and overconfidence bias. Three hundred thirty-seven investors from the northern portion of India total took part in the survey. AMOS 20.0 was used to create and test the conceptual framework. A questionnaire was used to extract data about the participants' investments in order to determine the level of their overconfidence bias and bitcoin participation. The outcomes confirmed the hypothesis. The results of the mediation study showed that there is direct and indirect influence of self-esteem on cryptocurrency investment behavior showing partial mediation effect.
This paper systematically investigates the impact of consumers' health risk perceptions on the purchase intention of blockchain traceable fresh fruits in China. It uses online-survey data collected from four pilot cities that are part of the food traceability system in China. The ordinary least squares (OLS) and the ordered probit model was applied to examine the posited relationships. The results show that consumers' health risk perception has a significant positive effect on the purchase intention of blockchain traceable fresh fruits. The stronger consumers' health risk perception, the stronger their purchase intention of blockchain traceable fresh fruits. Likewise, heterogeneity exists among gender, age, income, and education in their corresponding effect of consumers' health risk perception on blockchain traceable fresh fruit purchase intention. This suggests that male, high-aged, high-income and high-educated groups have a higher health risk perception, and therefore a higher purchase perception for blockchain traceable fresh fruits than female, low-aged, low-income and low-educated, respectively. Furthermore, family structure, consumers' traceability cognition and purchase experience of traceable products affect the purchase intention of blockchain traceable fresh fruits. The study has several insights on the broader promotion, acceptance and development of the food traceability system and provides practical cues for policy and practice.
Luís Alves, Estrela Ferreira Cruz, António Miguel Rosado da Cruz
In the current days, the Textile & Clothing industry sector is one of the largest and one with the greatest environmental impact, not only due to the consumption of water and the use of toxic chemicals, but also due to the increasing levels of textile waste. In addition, this industry often resorts to countries with cheap labor where workers’ rights are typically not met. The solution may involve the final consumer who, while purchasing these products, supports the entire value chain. If the final consumer chooses to buy products that are more socially and environmentally sustainable, it inspires the industry to follow this trend. For this, the final consumer must know the social and environmental indicators of the entire value chain and must trust on the information received. In this paper, Design Science Research is being used to build a system architecture capable of tracing these environmental and social indicators using decentralized and distributed technologies, like blockchain and smart contracts, to build Decentralized Applications (DApp).
The current COVID-19 pandemic has led to the acceleration of the digitization process and to a shifting to Industry 4.0. Blockchain (BC) is one of the technologies that has been introduced worldwide in recent years. It has been beneficial for the tourism industry, in addition to many other sectors. This article investigates the advantages and disadvantages of BC adoption in the tourism industry, as well as the possible solutions to overcome the challenges. This paper conducts a systematic literature review (SLR) that consists of the operations for detecting, selecting, categorizing, and analyzing relevant articles on a specified subject. It is evident from the results that the majority of the academic works illustrate the benefits of BC implementation and explain its potential by providing diverse models of BC-based systems. However, since BC is a young technology, numerous challenges have appeared on the path to its full adoption in the tourism industry. Possible solutions are the achievement of a collaborative approach among the stakeholders, the deepening of academic research in the field, testing more models of BC-based systems, and the establishment of relevant policies. Consequently, the implications for the theory, practice, policy, and research of this work are significant.
Khuram Shahzad, Qingyu Zhang, Muhammad Kaleem Khan, Muhammad Ashfaq · 5 authors
Purpose This study pinpoints the critical factors influencing the acceptance of blockchain technology in supply chain management in the light of the extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2) with additional factors personal innovativeness in technology and user's self-efficacy. Design/methodology/approach The questionnaire-based data was obtained from SC professionals in China (Beijing). The essential factors influencing it are evaluated through structural equation modeling (SEM), using AMOS software. Findings The empirical findings specify that performance expectancy, facilitating conditions, price value, hedonic motivation, user self-efficacy, and personal innovativeness are positively influencing user satisfaction. User satisfaction has a substantial progressive effect on habit. Furthermore, facilitating conditions, price value, habit, user self-efficacy, personal innovativeness, and user satisfaction have a progressive impact on continued intention to use blockchain technology in supply chain management. Originality/value Although numerous studies investigated the influencing factors of blockchain technology adoption in supply chain management, no study examined the determinants of UTAUT2. However, this study not only empirically studied the UTAUT2 model but also extended it with the most influencing elements such as personal innovativeness in technology and user's self-efficacy. Furthermore, this study contributes to the BT-enabled SCM literature by studying the continued use and acceptance, rather than testing behavioral intention and initial adoption which is common in previous studies of BT-enabled SCM. Finally, this study discusses the limitations, future directions, and managerial implications of the results so that supply chain professionals can deliver what supply chain stakeholders require.
The concept of fashion has been coupled with technology, where technology has become the protagonist. The transparency between an organization and a customer works as a catalyst, and the customer has taken a more mainstream role. With blockchain technology, companies can reconnect with customers and customers can track the journey of a product from its raw materials to the finished goods. The primary focus of the study is on services and data collected from the following sectors, namely fashion, apparel, and online platforms. The author's main goals are (1) to illustrate an overview of how big data is transforming the service industry, especially the fashion and design sector, and (2) to present various mechanisms adopted in the service industry. The study aims to investigate a model that fits through EXT-TAM and uses additional attributes of blockchain technology with a special reference to fashion apparel. The findings of this study depict a model, where PEOU, PU, and attitude are the major constructs and present a win-win scenario for both the customer and the organization.
Purpose The paper explores how consumer behavior for purchasing impulse products changed in the complex and disruptive (emergency) situation of the COVID-19 pandemic when the customer is shopping in-home and not visiting the offline stores in an emerging economy context. This paper further explores how digital transformations like the use of blockchain technology can aid offline/omnichannel retailers in reviving sales via permission marketing for impulse products. Design/methodology/approach The authors followed a qualitative research design and conducted 24 personal interviews with millennials and 15 interviews with offline/omnichannel retailers from an emerging economy. The data collected were analyzed using the thematic analysis procedure. Findings The authors discuss their findings under three themes – customers' conscious impulse buying during the pandemic, customers' unconscious impulse buying during the pandemic, and a viable solution for retailers in response to the pandemic. Practical implications The authors suggest that marketers primarily from an offline/omnichannel store should adapt to permission marketing and use technologies like blockchain for the digital transformation of their marketing strategies. Doing so can help offline retailers minimize future damages in the retail sector during emergency situations. Originality/value This paper is one of the first that explores how impulse – pure, suggestion, planned and reminder – purchases got affected during the COVID-19 pandemic disruptions in an emerging economy. This paper is also one of the first to explore the role of permission marketing and digital transformation by the use of blockchain in helping offline retailers in forming swift trust and practice trust-based marketing.
Tracing food products along the entire supply chain is important for achieving better management of food products. Traditionally, centralized traceability systems have been developed for such purposes. One major drawback of this approach is that different users of the supply chain have their own systems with their own complexities and distinct features; thus, the interaction among them creates challenges when implementing a single centralized system. Therefore, a decentralized traceability system is favorable for tracing food products along the supply chain. In this study, we develop a supply chain traceability system framework based on blockchain and radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. The system consists of a decentralized blockchain-enabled data storage platform for data management and an RFID system at the packaging level for data collection and storage. We applied a consortium blockchain to the application. Fabric 2.0 in Hyperledger was chosen as the development platform. The proposed blockchain-enabled platform can provide decentralized data management and its underlying algorithm can guarantee data security. The system includes a creatively designed blockchain-enabled data structure in the RFID tag. When people scan the tag, the relevant information is written in the tag as a block linked to the previous blocks; simultaneously, the information is transmitted to the blockchain platform and recorded on the platform. No battery is required and the system works when there is an RFID reader nearby. The usage conditions included shipment, stocking, and storage. The RFID tag can be directly attached to paper packaging. This approach embeds the blockchain technique into the RFID tag and develops a corresponding system. The new traceability system has the potential to simplify the tracking of products and can be scaled for industrial use.
Purpose This study aims to identify the challenges in the healthcare industry as it adopts an omnichannel setup in an emerging economy context. Further, the study determines the scope of blockchain in addressing these challenges. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a qualitative approach to understand the challenges in the omnichannel healthcare industry and know the scope of blockchain in building an omnichannel healthcare system. In the first stage, it did an in-depth analysis of the extant literature, followed by a Delphi study with 24 healthcare experts. Findings The study presents the current challenges in the omnichannel healthcare sector in an emerging economy. Further, it develops a novel conceptual framework for blockchain adoption in the omnichannel healthcare industry. The study also presents propositions that will help healthcare service providers enhance decision-making concerning the adoption of blockchain in the healthcare industry. Research limitations/implications The research results may lack generalizability due to the exploratory approach and emerging economies context. Theoretically, in this study, the authors extend the theory of swift trust and organization information processing theory in an omnichannel healthcare context. Practical implications The propositions provided in this paper can help healthcare managers make strategic decisions on the scope of adoption of blockchain for omnichannel healthcare. Originality/value This study explores the understudied area of challenges in omnichannel healthcare and the scope of blockchain for omnichannel healthcare in an emerging economy context.
Consumer Retail Behavior Studies
Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification
Jun Chen, Shiyan Xu, Kaikai Liu, Shuqi Yao · 6 authors
In order to cut down on costs to the greatest possible extent, enterprises hope to distribute goods to different customers at the lowest costs possible. Based on this, this paper proposes an optimal location method for an intelligent transportation logistics warehouse. This scheme combines a variety of complex mechanisms to allow IoT devices to provide input. The scheme makes full use of the irreducibility of a blockchain system to promote the development and design of blockchain logistics applications. This method is aimed at tracking the progress of transportation of products in the whole supply chain. Experimental results show that, compared with traditional methods, the optimal positioning method has the advantages of fewer calculations, a high positioning accuracy, and a low overall cost, and it obtains the best warehouse positioning results. Based on the Internet of Things and blockchain technology, the application of intelligent logistics systems enables enterprises to intuitively understand their current inventory and the transportation status of goods, thus better controlling changes in enterprise resources.
Purpose This research investigates the effects that blockchain exerts on omnichannel solutions and logistics strategies with the aim of solving the last mile issues and improving performance. Design/methodology/approach Research hypotheses are developed according to the literature review and the related gaps. Then, the hypotheses are tested using structural equation modelling and adopting a partial least squares – path modelling technique on a dataset composed of 157 firms. Findings Blockchain technology alone is not an effective driver in solving last mile issues and improving performance. Rather, it exerts a positive contribution to both omnichannel and logistics. However, omnichannel is not effective in managing last mile problems and increasing performance without the support of other practices. Firms need to implement a strong logistics system to manage the last mile and get high performance, which can be then reinforced through blockchain and omnichannel solutions. Originality/value This research investigates the novel wave of research on blockchain and its impact on logistics management and omnichannel. It combines these ingredients to address the issues of last mile and improve the economic performance. The research provides an empirical verification of a new research stream that currently lacks empirical support.
Digitalization plays an integral role in the transformation of the Omni structure. This study aims to investigate the effect of digital marketing capabilities (DMCs) and blockchain technology on customer-linking capabilities (CLCs), market-sensing capabilities (MSCs), consumer-brand engagement (CBE), and firm performance in China. The study was quantitative, and a simple random sampling technique was adopted for data collection. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire, 311 questionnaires were distributed, and a 5-point Likert scale was used to collect the data from the respondents who were employed in the Omni structure industries. The research hypothesis was tested using the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique. The results have identified a significant correlation and direct effect between DMCs, CLCs, MSCs, and firm performance. Remarkably, the effect of DMCs on CBE is significant. The mediating effect of MSCs and CLCs is significant between the relationship of DMCs and firm performance. The organization performance in the Omni structure depends on how well the DMCs have been employed. The DMCs influence MSCs, CLCs, and CBE. Henceforth, this study contributes by analyzing the role of DMCs in blockchain technology.
Open access
Digital Marketing and Social Media
Consumer Retail Behavior Studies
Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification
In recent years, block chain technology is gaining more popularity due to its unique properties like immutability and fairness. Medical, education and IT industry are the some of the fields where block chain is intensively used for the purpose of digital transformation and security. Similar way, real estate industry is moving towards digitization by replacing the pen and pencil business. For this purpose, real estate industry is embedding block chain technology for keeping records and transactions securely and provide transparency to the customers. The distributed data storage innovation, whose intention is to impart trust in the legitimacy of advanced exchanges and to make proficient answers for business and private land together. This will help them in purchasing property to directing due industriousness to empowering publicly supported ventures, and that's just the beginning. Purchasing of our dream house, renting houses for vacation, buying land property, all can be done directly from the block chain. Blockchain technology provides shareable type of record-keeping method which is intended to be hard to alter. Blockchain innovation works through decentralized shared stages, building versatility against the spread of undermined data and boosting protection from misrepresentation. Block chain can provide the daily rate of real estate transactions, a common database of leases and purchases which are frequently required by the customer. Enhancing the traditional Multiple Listing Service (MLS) database to a block chain-based would create a far more shareable ledger system where stockbrokers and mediators can utilize all the entire past business dealing of a property. This book chapter explains how block chain can help real estate businessmen and customers in selling and buying the properties respectively to improve the security of transactions performed, provide transparency to customers in property dealings and increase the service availability to customers always without any delay.