E-Service Touchpoints for Jewelry Retailers: Customers’ Perceptions of a Digital Sales Desk

Pfabe, C, Barann, B., Cordes, A.-K., Hermann, A., Gollhardt, T.

Abstract
The digitalization of retail also affects the luxury industry. The integration of digital components in local retail stores can be one way to attract customers and stay competitive. One novel in-store technology for jewelry stores could be a digital sales desk intended to support the watch-advisory service. This work proposes a conceptual design for a digital sales desk comprising various e-service touchpoints. It conducts an ex-ante evaluation to investigate the aspects of the digital sales desk that influence customers’ perceptions of quality and their re-use intentions toward the digitally enriched advisory service. Therefore, an online survey was conducted. The survey results indicate that some e-service touchpoints are more popular than others. The participants’ quality and value perceptions also directly impacted their intentions to re-use the service. The results shed light on the digital sales desk’s potentials and provide orientation regarding the most promising e-service touchpoints.