AAA Annual Conference 2018

Mototaka Sakashita, Keio University
Khadija Ali Vakeel, Northwestern University
VIjay Viswanathan, Northwestern University

Many retailers are investing more resources on mobile technologies such as mobile applications to engage customers and increase in-store sales. A unique mobile application developed by a large shopping mall operator in East Asia allows customers to save relevant advertising information, share their liking for a brand and check-in at the mall. In contrast to many extant research that has studied mere passive exposure to advertising, this study investigates whether customers’ behavior of saving mobile advertisements influences sales, and how their attitude towards the store brand and their location moderates the main effect. The study uses a rich dataset (a total of 985,042 customer-store purchase transactions made by 31,683 customers) obtained in collaboration with one of the largest shopping mall operators based in East Asia. In order to test the theoretical framework, it uses an instrumental variable technique to develop a causal research design. The results show that while customers who save advertisement from a brand on a mobile app purchase more, a positive attitude towards the store brand further enhances this effect. In addition, the effect is stronger for customers who interact with the mobile app when they are in proximity of the store in the mall. The study, therefore, provides novel findings pertaining to the inter-relationships of various customer engagement behaviors on mobile devices and has important implications for academics and marketers interested in mobile advertising.