Development of a service blueprint for the online-to-offline integration in service

Abstract

Online-to-offline (O2O) integration refers to the incorporation of separate online and offline service processes into a single service delivery. Advances in mobile devices and information and communication technology enable the O2O integration, which has been applied to many services. This study proposes a new service blueprint, called the O2O Service Blueprint (O2O SB), which is specialized in visualizing and analyzing the service processes of the O2O integration. A comprehensive literature review and text mining analysis are conducted on massive quantities of literature, articles, and application introductions to understand characteristics of the O2O integration and extract keywords relevant to the O2O integration. Comparisons of the O2O SB with the conventional service blueprint and Information Service Blueprint validate that our proposal can address the limitations of existing service blueprints. An evaluation through expert interviews confirms the completeness, utility, and versatility of the O2O SB. The proposed O2O SB presents a complete picture of the entire service process, whether online or offline. This SB helps users systematically understand the processes and formulate strategies for service improvement. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd