Bringing the corner -store online: The challenges and promises of online customer service.

Information technology (IT) enables firms to harness the information-richness of the Internet in order to provide automated customer relationship management. As a result, online customer service is emerging as a promising IT-based alternative to traditional means of customer service, such as branding, telephone customer service, and price discounts. Consequently, the concept of customer acquisition and retention, which has traditionally fallen within the area of marketing, is entering the realm of information systems (IS) design. My dissertation addresses the possibilities and challenges brought about by IT-enabled online customer service mechanisms. This dissertation examines whether firms can use IT-based service mechanisms to differentiate themselves, and therefore charge higher prices. In addition, this dissertation examines how online customer service features affect customer browsing and buying behavior. After a brief introduction chapter, this dissertation addresses the promises and challenges of online customer service in four chapters, each of which covers an aspect of the online customer service experience. Each of the four parts provides academics and practitioners alike useful information towards better understanding the economic and design issues of the online customer service experience. The four aspects of the online customer service experience that this dissertation examines (by chapter) are: (1) The ideal relationship between personalization and price, examined through an analytical model (chapter II); (2) The actual relationship between personalization and price, examined through empirical field data (chapter III); (3) The effect of consumer search behavior and negative online service features on consumer browsing and buying behavior, examined through conversion rate rather than price (chapter IV); (4) The effect of online service features on consumer willingness to share information towards personalization, examined through survey data (chapter V). The effects of the online experience that are documented in this dissertation are truly unique, and are an emergent trend in electronic business frontiers. Through the use of online customer service mechanisms, firms are able to charge a systematic price premium for certain categories of homogenous goods. In addition, online customer service mechanisms have differing effects on consumer behavior when provided by market leaders versus followers. Lastly, firms can encourage consumers to share their information online through the use of information transparency features.Ph.D.Commerce-BusinessEconomic theoryMarketingSocial SciencesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/124618/2/3150152.pd