Fresh food online shopping repurchase intention: the role of post-purchase customer experience and corporate image

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate consumers' post–purchase experience when buying fresh food online. It examines the key dimensions of post–purchase online customer experience (post–purchase OCE) that impact customer satisfaction and repurchase intention. It also explores the role of corporate image as a moderator.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey was conducted in China to capture participants' post–purchase OCE, satisfaction, repurchase intention and perceived corporate image. Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was utilized to analyse data collected from 317 Chinese fresh food online shoppers. Moderated mediation analysis was conducted to analyse the moderating effect of corporate image.FindingsFour post–purchase OCE dimensions “product-in-hand”, “customer support”, “benefits” and “packaging” significantly drive customers' repurchase intention by enhancing customer satisfaction. “Delivery” is not influential. Additionally, for firms with a good corporate image, customer repurchase intention is more easily affected by post–purchase OCE than firms with a lower level of corporate image.Practical implicationsThe findings inform fresh food e-commerce firms of the critical post–purchase OCE dimensions that mostly drive customer satisfaction and help retain customers. Furthermore, it implies that firms with a good corporate image must provide high-quality post–purchase OCE that matches the image because the consequences associated with a poor post–purchase OCE can be severe.Originality/valueThis research is among the first to investigate fresh food post–purchase OCE. It also introduces the previously underexplored moderating role of corporate image.

Exploring online customer experience: A systematic literature review and research agenda

“…Another group of antecedents includes those appearing in the postpurchase stage . This research stream focuses on delivery quality (packaging, handling, shipping service, and tracking service), as well as fulfillment of order and product‐in‐hand experience (e.g., Liao & Keng, 2014; Ma et al, 2022; Vakulenko et al, 2019). The last variable widely investigated in this group is the return and exchange of purchased products (Cao et al, 2018; Ma et al, 2022).…”

“…It is noteworthy that some of these dependent variables function as mediators in other research, for example, satisfaction is frequently utilized as a mediator between the dimensions of OCE and loyalty or behavioral intention (Ma et al, 2022; Molinillo et al, 2020; Pandey & Chawla, 2018), even though it is also considered as outcome. The same is true for flow (Bauer et al, 2020) and engagement (Lee et al, 2021; Zhang et al, 2017).…”

Online consumer shopping behaviour: A review and research agenda

“…• Examining the loyalty and revisit intention for online consumer behaviour (Huifeng & Ha, 2021;Suhartanto et al, 2019) • Examining the approach/avoidance behaviour for online consumer behaviour (K. X. Ma et al, 2021) versus self-referencing. Additionally, in online consumer behaviour, the impact of perceived characteristics of innovation (rationality, venturesome, dogmatism, innovativeness, empathy, and ability to deal with abstractions) can also be studied in future research.…”

Safety Perception Evaluation of Civil Aviation Based on Weibo Posts in China: An Enhanced Large-Scale Group Decision-Making Framework

“…Lee et al [ 63 ] studied the influence of information on readers’ opinions using genetically modified food reports as an example. Ma et al [ 64 ] studied fresh food repurchase intention by collecting online reviews by partial least squares structural equation modelling. Tontini et al [ 65 ] investigated the effect of spontaneous customer reviews on restaurant service satisfaction, where service quality includes the quality and price of food.…”