Investigation to determine elements influencing customer's satisfaction in the B2C electronic retailing marketplaces

PurposeTaking the perfect perspective of customers' satisfaction, this paper aims to investigate the elements affecting customer satisfaction in business-to-consumer (B2C) online retailing stores, which are divided into five non-monetary dimensions: trust, order fulfillment, website construction, excitement and interaction.Design/methodology/approachDue to distinguishing the suitability of the data, the authors used exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Next, the authors utilized confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to check their validity. Then, the authors applied Cronbach's alpha to check the reliability of the elements. After that, the authors combined these five elements with structural equation modeling (SEM) to make a model. The authors also performed Friedman tests to prioritize the elements.FindingsThe results indicate that each element is undeniably significant and has an extraordinary impact on customers' satisfaction evaluation. Therefore, system providers and electronic retailers need to consider them on their websites to achieve marketing goals in the competitive online environments.Originality/valueElectronic commerce has resulted in an essential change in B2C marketing, especially in the electronic retailing industry. Online suppliers need to satisfy their customers to receive competitive advantages and increase their income. The purpose of this study is to research the elements affecting customers' satisfaction in B2C online retailing stores.

Systematic review of gender differences and similarities in online consumers’ shopping behavior

Purpose This study aims to systematically examine gender specific behavioral differences and similarities in online shopping consumers, underlying theories for such differences and similarities and moderating and mediating roles of gender in studying the effects of online marketing strategies. This synthesis explores gender differences and similarities from a wide range of online settings, including readiness for adoption of new technology, willingness to make online payments, trust in online vendors, perception and behavior toward online business websites and perceived online service quality. Design/methodology/approach A systematic approach was adopted to derive and then analyze the existing literature. The authors accessed relevant literature from three electronic databases. After a thorough screening process and applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, the study shortlisted 61 academic articles from an initial pool of 187 papers. Findings The findings reveal more differences than similarities between men and women as online consumers. Men generally have more favorable attitudes toward e-tailers (electronic retailing), online purchase/re-purchase and e-payments than women do. Social influences positively affect the online purchase intentions of men and women, but they have a more substantial effect on women. Privacy concerns negatively affect the online trust of men and women, but they also manifest a more significant influence on women. Practical implications Findings of review guide practitioners in formulating effective positioning and communication strategies that enable them to appeal to gender-specific consumer segments in multiple products and business contexts. It offers guidelines to online businesses for developing e-business platforms (websites) that persuade the target audience across gender groups, based on consumer browsing and web navigation preferences. Originality/value This review fulfills the need for a systematic synthesis of empirical research vis-à-vis online consumer behavior studies to find gender-specific perceptions, attitudes and behaviors.

Real-Time Location-Positioning Technologies for Managing Cart Operations at a Distribution Facility

In this paper, we propose an RFID-based location-positioning platform for managing cart operations at vast and fast-moving distribution facilities. Our work was motivated by a real-world problem in a large airmail center. Our system requires that each cart is affixed with an active RFID tag, and RFID readers are installed at multiple locations of the facility. The locations of the tagged carts are determined by the estimated angles of arrival communication signals between the readers and the tags and the signal strengths, and the information about their positions are stored in the platform continuously. This platform enables the users to locate tagged objects in real time, thereby saving staff members a significant amount of time from searching for the right carts in the highly dynamic environment. Consequently, the mail facility can benefit from the increased efficiency. Furthermore, the system is also able to reduce the chance of having a delay in delivering mail bags to unit load device (ULD) area and misplacements of mail bags to ULDs. We further analyze the the huge amount of historical data collected from the RFID infrastructure of the airmail center for the cart movements within the facility and observed previously unrecognized operational issues. We also discuss some of the challenges and problems faced in this project. We believe that this application can bring huge benefits to businesses and organizations along supply chains by effectively anticipating the increasing demand for logistics services in the age of electronic retailing.

Flexible and Committed Advertising Contracts in Electronic Retailing

Many advertising agents offer flexible advertising contracts wherein firms have the flexibility of adjusting their level of advertising during the advertising campaign, whereas some agents also offer committed contracts wherein firms do not have this flexibility. Based on our analysis, we would recommend that e-retailing firms choose the flexible contracts, which give them the flexibility of adjusting their advertising spending during the advertising campaign and make them better off. We also send a clear message to e-retailers that their leverage of engaging in flexible competition is contingent on the size of their operational costs. In particular, as operational costs decrease, they should be more mindful of engaging in the flexible competition. However, from the standpoint of advertising agents (e.g., Facebook.com ), because firms’ advertising efforts are lower in flexible than committed competition, we would recommend that the advertising agents adopt differential pricing schemes under the two modes of competition. In particular, the agents need to offer discounts to the e-retailers signing flexible advertising contracts so as to step up the advertising competition. In addition, our findings also provide the advertising agents with guidance on how to determine the optimal value for the discounts to be offered.

Analyzing value creation in electronic retailing: The case of Digikala–Part A

Many e-commerce businesses are emerging in the form of start-ups in Iran. Plenty of these businesses fail to gain significant market share. Electronic retail stores are among the most commonly used electronic business models. Despite the many challenges facing e-retailers due to market changes and customer preferences, Digikala has been ranked as the most popular and most visited website and has managed to gain over 85% of the Iranian retail market. In addition, Digikala is one of the largest electronic retailers in the Middle East. This study aims at analyzing value creation in Digikala in order to overcome these challenges and answering the following question: What value does Digikala create?

Determinants of E-service quality features on customer satisfaction : A study among e-shoppers

Electronic-Retailing(E-tailing) is gaining prominence across the globe, duly supported by advancement in technologies and digitization. The e-tailing growth has been driven by increasing smartphone & internet penetration, the launch of affordable 4G networks, the existence of security & logistics infrastructure and growing consumer wealth across the world (World Economic Forum). Exclusive customer offers, promotional campaigns, cashback and redemptions by e-commerce service providers and bankers through online channel have also aided the growth in electronic-retailing. E-tailing is a part of e-commerce, where it deals only with B2C customers. This study will be helpful in identifying influential E-service quality factors that are affecting consumer satisfaction with respect to the online channel. Survey was conducted with a structured questionnaire and responses were elicited from 230 e-tail customers. Both Primary and secondary data are used for this study. Primary data is collected through survey method. Secondary information is gathered from different sources such as online web-sources, newspapers, research journals, industry reports, etc. The study considered e-retailing customers of amazon who made at least one purchase on the website for the last year. Amazon has the highest market share among the e-retailers.The results demonstrated that post-purchase behavior aspects like on-time delivery of the product and providing the exact product at the time of delivery plays a significant role in enhancing customer satisfaction.

Retail Prices and E-Commerce

This chapter provides a broad survey of recent literature on online price dispersion in the fields of economics, information system, and marketing, and offers a number of explanations documented in various electronic retailing markets from both the demand and supply sides, such as branding/reputation, market competition, consumer heterogeneity, dynamic pricing, and oligopoly strategies, to name a few. In addition, it also discusses several potential directions for future research in this area.

How Electronic Retailing Impact to Traditional Retailing - An Empirical Studied in the United States under Sales Value

Electronic retailing is the process of selling the goods and services through electronic media, particularly the internet. Nowadays, electronic retail sales are increasing. There are some ideas for that electronic retail sales growth will impact negatively to traditional retail sales. By analyzing the relationship between of electronic retail sales and traditional retail sale at the time 2000 – 2017 in the US, the purpose of this paper explains the nature of this impact. The results indicate that traditional retail sales have increased low during 2000 -2017 while electronic retail sales have increased higher. In nearest prospect, when both electronic retail sales shares and the growth speed of electronic retail sales reach to the larger amount and size, perhaps traditional retail sales will be negative growth. Used data are secondary data, using Microsoft excel 2010 for tabulating and graphing.

The Anywhere, Anytime Market: The 800-Number, Direct Marketing, and the New Networks of Consumption

This article explores how 800-service, or toll-free long-distance (In-WATS) lines, became an institutionalized part of direct marketing in the United States between the mid-1960s and early 1980s. Introduced by AT&T in 1967, 800-service attracted immediate attention in mail-order circles, where marketers saw it as means of automating long-distance selling and catering to an increasingly decentralized and credit-dependent populace. Although early initiatives, like that of catalog giant Aldens, fell flat, 800-service gained traction by the mid-1970s as a call-center industry developed and mail-order operations began using In-WATS lines in combination with bank-issued credit cards and private delivery services. By decade’s end, this trio of networks—long-distance telephony, credit/payment, and parcel delivery—were densely interwoven, forming the infrastructural basis for a new kind of “anywhere, anytime,” upscale shopping exemplified by the newly refashioned Spiegel. Ultimately, the article helps historicize the rise of electronic retailing and the marketization of telecommunications infrastructure.