Value co-creation through multiple shopping channels: the interconnections with social exclusion and wellbeing

This study examines consumers’ value co-creation via several shopping channels including a traditional out-of-home shopping channel and “smart” channels where consumers use a computer, a mobile phone or social media. It focuses on the effect that value co-creation has on consumers’ shopping behaviour as well as on the perceived contribution of a shopping channel to their wellbeing, with a focus on individuals who perceive themselves as being socially excluded, particularly by mobility disability. The project was carried out in the USA using an online survey (n=1220). Social exclusion has a positive statistically significant effect on respondents’ self-connection with all channels; for many socially excluded respondents the shopping channel has an important role in their lives. Self-connection with the channel has a positive effect on value co-creation and there is a positive relationship between value co-creation and the perceived contribution of the channel on wellbeing. When consumers help other individuals in their decision making they not only create value for the retailer and for other customers but also contribute positively to their own wellbeing. Importantly, for smart shopping channels where consumers use a computer or a mobile phone, the impact of value co-creation on the perceived contribution of these channels to consumer wellbeing are stronger for shoppers with a mobility disability than for those without such a disability