To Personalize or Not to Personalize Online Purchase Interactions: Implications of Self-Selection by Retailers
Authors: Thirumalai, Sriram; Sinha, Kingshuk K.
Journal: Information Systems Research (2013)
<jats:p> Personalization technologies today enable retailers to tailor online purchase interactions to the individual preferences and needs of customers. With personalization being increasingly perceived as a source of competitive advantage, there is a growing trend toward pursuing technology-enabled personalization strategies in online retailing. However, the choice of a retailer whether or not to select into technology-enabled personalization and its implications for customer loyalty are at best ambiguous. This paper is an attempt to resolve this apparent ambiguity. Specifically, the paper conceptualizes retailer selection into technology-enabled personalization strategies relevant to two steps of an online purchase, namely, transaction personalization strategy and decision personalization strategy, based on the operating characteristics of a retailer. The implications of the retailers' self-selection into technology-enabled personalization strategies for customer loyalty are then empirically investigated with data collected from 422 retailers. Further, based on a counterfactual analysis, the paper reveals the implications of making a normatively incorrect decision with respect…