Interactive Experience of Collaborative Online Shopping: Real-Time Interaction and Communication

Businesses have recently adopted collaborative online shopping (COS) technologies to provide the same level of service to customers as they do in-store. Individuals’ interactions during COS create experiences through specific touchpoints in the joint customer journey. These COS technologies have created a new environment for shopping interactivities, and it is necessary to pay close attention to various aspects of these interactions. The chapter sheds insights on understanding two forms of interactions during COS: (1) interpersonal interactions and (2) interactions with the collaborative online shopping platform (COSP). By reviewing the related literature, this chapter found that the interactive experience of shoppers during COS can be enhanced in two ways. First, by improving the interactive touchpoints of COSPs. Using functional affordances, which can be the features of COSPs, including switching control of mouse navigation, live annotation, and communication, can enrich the interactive experience of the shoppers (e.g., reciprocity can be facilitated through switching control). Second, enhancing the interactive experience by improving the interpersonal interactions between shoppers and their companions through increasing the social presence and flow, decreasing the relational uncertainty, selecting a competent companion, and considering the appropriate shopping group structure (i.e., co-buyer, buyer-advisor, and buyer-store companion) for different shopping scenarios.