Customer ESatisfaction Towards AI and Technology Enabled Services A Study On Online Fashion Retail

Abstract

The online retail marketplace is growing at an exponential rate with a paradigm shift is shopping online in recent times. This has brought forth an increased use of technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) based tools on the websites of most retailers big and small. The Human Computer Interaction (HCI) has emerged to the forefront as important aspect between consumers and the products they buy. This is the basic premise of technology enabled retail. AI and its enabled technologies are breaking new ground and delivering value to customers. Online retailing specifically fashion retailing is increasingly using AI powered tools to ease the perceived risk of shopping. These technologies like recommender engines, zoom and rotation, mix and match features and chatbots in trying increase service personalization. These enabled technologies imitate the touch and feel experience of a physical store and reduce the disadvantage an in-store experience. The study uses the concepts of TAM (Technology Acceptance Model) and modified TAM which is Unified Theory of Technology Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) to build a conceptual framework and puts forth the framework of WebQual for the design of the study. In this context this study has been undertaken starting first with an exploratory study to identify the technology features on a website which influence online shopping. The framework of WebQual 4.0 has been used as constructs to study the influence of website features powered with technology on customer e-satisfaction. Customer satisfaction in the online context which is e-satisfaction is the dependent variable in the study and can be defined as the judgment of their online experience in comparison with the brick and motor store experience. An extensive literature review was conducted on all the key terms of the study to identify the need and relevance of the study and identify the research gaps.