Development of digital customer experience in logistics service industry

Abstract

<br/>Purpose<br/><br/>The rapid pace of change in digitalization requires companies to learn new things, adapt to changes and develop digital customer experience using new technologies. The purpose of this paper is to study the digital customer experience in logistics service industry. The aim is to describe the elements of successful digital customer experience, and the views of the future development of digital tools and services in logistics. The challenges and barriers to reach the desired future of digitalization and digital services are presented, as well as the process of analysis used in this study to explore the digital customer experience.<br/><br/>Research Approach<br/><br/>This paper is based on qualitative research methods, and it is by its nature a case study, in the form of four expert workshops organized in Finland and literature review. The participants of the workshops were primarily logistics managers and directors of trade and industrial companies. The approach in the workshops were future oriented, and the futures triangle were used as a method. The futures triangle enabled to find out current state of the digital services, development measures to the desired future and barriers to change. The results were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. In literature review we studied the elements of successful digital customer experience and how customer experience has changed through digitalization.<br/><br/>Findings and Originality<br/><br/>Based on this study, the logistics customers value especially easiness, usability and real time of digital services. The traceability and predictability in supply chains were seen most foremost things in future development of digitalization. The results highlight the importance of cooperation between customers and logistics service providers when developing future digital services. The experts participating in the workshops, assessed the framework of futures triangle as a suitable method to study digitalization and customer experience. <br/><br/>Research Impact<br/><br/>This study deepens the information and understanding about the customer experience of the digital services in logistics industry in the light of sustainability and future development. In addition, the use of futures triangle method gives a new approach to investigate the digital customer experiences. <br/><br/>Practical Impact<br/><br/>For the companies, this study illustrates the elements of digital customer experience and increases companies´ understanding of customer needs for the development of the digital tools and services. This information can be used to support strategic decisions. The method used in this paper is also usable for the companies.<br/><br/>Keywords: digital customer experience, digitalization, logistics service provider, logistics company, customer satisfaction<br/>