Customer Smart Experience Quality of Fast-Food Restaurants and Brand Love

This study investigates how consumer smart experience quality in smart retail environments in Indonesia’s fast-food restaurant industry influences brand love and, in turn, customer engagement. Smart experience quality is conceptualized through four dimensions: intelligent systems, human–machine interaction, self-service, and product content, while customer engagement is operationalized through buying, referring, influencing, and feedback behaviors. The study used a quantitative research design and collected data through a structured survey. Participants were selected based on their prior experience with omnichannel services in fast-food restaurants. The researchers analyzed the data using structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine the proposed relationships. The findings show that all four dimensions of smart experience quality have significant positive effects on brand love, which in turn significantly and positively influences customer engagement. The study contributes to the literature by positioning brand love as a mediating construct, addressing a notable gap and demonstrating its role in strengthening consumers' emotional attachment to fast-food restaurant brands and enhancing customer engagement. Given the highly competitive fast-food industry, where consumers face numerous brand alternatives, the findings further suggest that smart retail technologies enhance customer experiences by enabling more efficient brand evaluation and decision-making. Consequently, the study underscores the strategic importance of delivering high-quality smart experiences to foster brand love and strengthen customer engagement.

Keywords

Customer Smart Experience Quality, Brand Love, Customer Engagement, Omnichannel Marketing

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Customer Smart Experience Quality of Fast-Food Restaurants and Brand Love

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