Omnichannel integration in fashion retail: privacy barriers to customer retention
Erkan Yildiz, Pınar Türkdemir, Mustafa Fikret AteşPurpose
Focusing on fashion retail, this study investigates how customer-perceived channel integration (CPCI) influences privacy concerns (PC) and customer retention (CR), specifically testing whether PC mediates the link between integration and retention.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on the “Stimulus–Organism–Response” model and privacy calculus theory, this study explores omnichannel retail consumer behaviour (ORCB). Data were collected via in-person surveys from 600 Generation Y customers in Ankara. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling was employed to examine the direct and indirect pathways within the model.
Findings
The results indicate that retail CPCI is positively associated with CR and negatively associated with PC. PC partially mediates the CPCI–CR relationship, indicating that integrated omnichannel experiences relate to retention both directly and indirectly through lower privacy-related anxieties.
Research limitations/implications
Generalisability is bounded by the focus on a single metropolitan area. Future research should incorporate diverse demographic cohorts and cross-cultural settings to extend these findings.
Practical implications
Fashion retailers should transition towards “privacy-by-design” frameworks. By implementing transparent consent mechanisms and consistent service delivery, retailers can alleviate PC and strengthen long-term customer relationships.
Originality/value
This study shows that PC operate as a negative organism-level mediator: integration quality strengthens retention partly by easing privacy concerns, a channel carrying about a third of the total effect that positive-state-only models overlook, and one sharpened by fashion's identity-expressive data exposure.