Why do online grocery shoppers switch or stay? An exploratory analysis of consumers’ response to online grocery shopping experience

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to add to current knowledge of online customer experience (OCE) by examining various drivers and outcomes of online grocery shopping experience that can help researchers and retailers answer the pressing question: “Why do online grocery customers stay or switch?” Design/methodology/approach This study applied netnography and critical incident analysis to a pool of 1,004 reviews captured from forum and review sites dedicated to online grocery shopping. Findings Two broad dimensions of OCE, four attributes and 13 factors corresponding to shoppers’ psychological states and their utilitarian and hedonic orientations emerged from the data analysis. The proposed framework, containing these four attributes and corresponding 13 factors, captures the consumers’ intention to stay with the current retailer or switch. Research limitations/implications The study contributes to existing knowledge of OCE by providing a dynamic and yet holistic framework that encompasses experiential states and utilitarian or hedonic orientations in an online grocery context. Although its contributions are valuable to both researchers and practitioners, further quantitative analysis is needed to validate the findings. Practical implications In addition to providing superior customer experience by implementing the various drivers of OCE identified here, online grocery retailers can use the study findings as a strategic guide toward building a frictionless and pleasurable shopping experience. Originality/value The study employs netnography and critical incident technique to identify experiential attributes such as reliability, responsiveness, return and refund, which are unique OCE attributes in online grocery, a relatively unexamined field of retailing.