Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
The purpose of this dissertation is to shed a light on whether Augmented Reality (AR) can be a
source of strategic value for grocery retailing companies. PromoPad, an AR-based device that
provides context-sensitive shopping assistant as well as personalized advertising, was chosen
to embody the functionalities AR can add to the grocery shopping experience.
To understand if PromoPad’s functionalities were valued by customers, an online
questionnaire was conducted as a way to collect empirical data. With the results of the
questionnaire it was possible to understand the functionalities that were valued the most, and
that privacy issues, user-friendly concerns and/or fashion concerns were not an impeditive for
customers to use PromoPad. From this, it was concluded that customers value the extra
functionalities AR can bring to the shopping experience in grocery retailing.
Finally, it was assessed if AR could be used strategically. In this regard, by applying RBV
theory, it was concluded that the information PromoPad enables companies to gather was
the needed “raw material” to derive valuable, unique, non-substitutable and inimitable
customer knowledge, being therefore, a source of company’s sustainable competitive
advantage. Hence, the implementation of AR can indeed be strategic if properly integrated
with a CRM strategy from which customer knowledge can be derived.
This dissertation concludes that the customer knowledge, derived from the information
PromoPad collects and the use of CRM, can have a strategic relevance for companies. As so,
this means that indeed AR can bring strategic value for grocery retailing companies.
Description
Keywords
Augmented reality Grocery retailing PromoPad Dynamic contextualization Persuasive information systems