Title: How technologies are changing the social relationships in the shopping experience?

Authors: Eleonora Pantano; Saverino Verteramo

Addresses: Department of Marketing Branding and Tourism, Middlesex University Business School, Middlesex University London, The Burroughs, NW4 4BT London, UK ' Department of Mechanical, Energy and Management Engineering, University of Calabria, Via Bucci, Cubo 46c, 87036, Rende (CS), Italy

Abstract: This paper investigates the impact of the innovations held by the introduction of advanced technologies into the points of sale. In particular, it explores the sense of sociality emerging while integrating social networks, with emphasis on the quality of social interactions while shopping. The aims of this paper is to investigate the impact among social relationships during the purchasing process (including need of relatives' or friends' presence), relationships with vendors, eWOM and trust in technology on the attitude towards the use of these technologies as supporting tool while shopping. The study is based on a quantitative analysis involving 331 young consumers, analysed through the structural equation model. Findings show the extent to which these technological innovations are able to replace the traditional face-to-face interactions in terms of consumer-to-consumer and consumer-to-vendor ones.

Keywords: retailing; consumer behaviour; social experience; Italy; shopping experience; technology management; customer engagement; technological innovation; social networks; interation quality; social interactions; social relationships; vendor relationships; eWOM; electronic WOM; word-of-mouth; trust; young consumers; structural equation modelling; SEM.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTMKT.2017.083369

International Journal of Technology Marketing, 2017 Vol.12 No.2, pp.151 - 164

Received: 02 Aug 2016
Accepted: 10 Aug 2016
Published online: 24 Mar 2017 *

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