CX: The Customer Experience

This special issue focuses on the customer experience, a topic that has garnered significant attention from scholars and practitioners over the past few decades. Numerous studies have been conducted leading to substantial advances in our understanding of this concept. However, customer experiences are profoundly transformed by state-of-the-art technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) integrated into robots, internet of things (IoT), augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR). Thus, there remains a need to investigate how these new technologies influence customer experiences and whether they encourage prosocial behaviors. The authors of this special issue explored the relationship between consumers’ mindsets (abstract vs. concrete) and self-brand connection/group norms in brand experiences. Additionally, the issue includes findings from interviews with top management at major retailers regarding their efforts and attitudes toward sensory marketing. The latter half of this issue presents research on the customer experience through the lens of new technology, examining aspects such as social networking services, AI-enabled smart speakers, and avatar-like assistants in the e-commerce shopping experience.