Comparing online user experience across different digital business ecosystems and platforms when booking vacations

While various combinations of business eco-systems (desktop, laptop, tablet, mobile, smartwatch, and TV) and platforms (apps, websites, and social media pages) can be used to shop online, little is known about consumers’ preferences to choose one over another. The user experience on each eco-touchpoint and eco-channel is not the same. By comparing four groups of respondents (595 observations) using two different systems (Brand Website vs. Brand Facebook page) and two different channels (PC vs. Smartphone), this research examines how utilitarian values, hedonic values, satisfaction, and flow experience, might differ across these various business ecosystems for those booking a vacation. Participants were randomly guided to one of the four experimental groups based on their device. The results show that flow experience, utilitarian values, and hedonic values influence booking intentions. These effects differ from digital platform to digital platform and from one e-channel to another. This research deepens our theoretical understanding of the online user experience across business ecosystems and gives practical insights into how e-retailers could enhance consumers’ shopping experiences through the different e-channel and digital platforms that contribute, in a different way, to the online experience.