earticle

영어

Although digitalization is a prevalent strategy in loyalty programs, little is known regarding the relationship between mobile loyalty app usage and purchase behavior. Using individual-level app usage, transactional and reward redemption datasets, we carried out panel vector autoregression model to illuminate the interrelationship between usage of mobile app functions and different purchase behaviors. Results show that the effect of in-app function usage on purchase behaviors differs according to the type of functions. Informational function usage has a longer lasting effect on purchases and promotes point stockpiling behaviors whereas experiential function usage shows a short-term effect on purchases, promoting more active reward redemption behaviors. Furthermore, we observe a differential effect in accordance to the depth and length of customer-firm relationships. Informational function usage is more effective for customers with longer tenure and higher purchase level while experiential function usage is more effective for customers with shorter tenure and lower purchase level. A follow-up survey is conducted to provide a qualitative evidence to the relationship. The results also provide insights into how retailers can strategically design and implement their loyalty programs in the emerging mobile-based omnichannel environment.