E-Retailing

Purpose
– The concept of customer engagement has emerged as an important indicator of customer- brand relationship strength. However, limited research exists to provide insight into how customer engagement enhances the effectiveness of building such a relationship in retail services. This study extends the current understanding of customer engagement through examination of its role in the development of customer-brand relationship quality.

Design/methodology/approach
– To test the hypotheses contained in the proposed conceptual model, we used a quantitative method that included a survey questionnaire to measure customers’ perceptions with respect to the constructs of interest. Specifically, two studies were conducted in Australia. Study 1 was intended to empirically test the theoretical relationships among the constructs, while Study 2 aimed to replicate the proposed model with a different sample to enhance external validity.

Findings
– In two separate studies, the results of a structural model show that the emerging concept of customer engagement plays a significant role in building customer-brand relationship quality and, subsequently, customer loyalty toward the retail brand.

Research limitations/implications
– This study focuses on retail store brands only and used a cross-sectional design, which does not involve examination of cause and effect relationships.

Practical implications
– From a practical point of view, the findings suggest that marketers should actively embrace strategies to foster customer engagement to enhance brand relationship quality, and ultimately, forming a loyal customer-brand relationship.

Originality/value
– The study makes an original contribution to the retail services literature by empirically demonstrating the relevance of customer engagement in both customer relationship management as well as brand management.

Technological improvements and using internet in commercial life have affected the development of modern retailing, and retailing and retailing has started to place in the center of global trade. Retail industry accounts for over US$ 15 trillion in global revenue. Today increasingly intensified competition and globalization has increased the importance of e-commerce on retail trade. Similarly, using logistics services in retailing has created the competitive advantage and economic value. In this context, analysis of the relationship between e-commerce and e-logistics in retailing has been important. The aim of this study is to reveal the strengths and weaknesses, threats and opportunities of selected companies in the retail sector within the framework of relationship in e-commerce and e-logistics. The results show that using of e-commerce and e-logistics in retail sector has positive effects on the development of retail sector, and the potential possibilities will increase the chance in competition of retail sector. Therefore, widespread of information technologies in retail sector will affect on both economic growth of country and sector.

The purpose of this study is to explore consumers' perceptions of Internet Retail Service Quality by identifying dimensions that are important to online shoppers. A scale was developed to empirically measure these dimensions. The nomological validity of the scale was assessed by its ability to predict theoretically related constructs namely satisfaction, positive word-of-mouth and likelihood of future purchases intentions. This study was accomplished through a triangulation of two different methodologies. Study 1 used a qualitative approach through in-depth interviews to identify five dimensions important to consumers when evaluating the quality of Internet retailers namely information, navigation, responsiveness, security and reliability; while study 2 used a quantitative approach (multi-item scale) to confirm the qualitative findings. The findings demonstrate support for the strong predictive power of the overall scale for estimating customer satisfaction and loyalty. Introduction. A recent study conducted in Malaysia found that there is phenomenal increase i n the number of Internet users over the last few years, where approximately 21 million Malaysians are connected to the Internet. 1 Among the Asia Pacific countries, Irsyad ranked Malaysia third in terms of mobile shopping growth rate. 2 Although Internet shopping is projected to generate about USD894 million of revenue for Malaysia in the year 2016, 3 studies by Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) in 2014 show that only 38% of Internet users shop online. 4 In fact, most Malaysians are very reluctant to shop online due to security and privacy concerns. 5-6 Similarly, studies indicate that only 6 out of 10 Malaysians seek information online prior to an online purchase. 6 These findings shown that although Internet penetration rate has increased among Malaysians, this does not commensurate with their online buying behaviour. In order to encourage online shopping, online retailers need to understand web based dimensions that can affect consumers' online shopping experience. Previous studies have shown that online shopping service quality can affect consumers' satisfaction, thus influencing their loyalty. 7 Thus, this study can provide a better understanding of consumers' perceptions toward the online retail service quality. Suc h research is necessary because approximately two-thirds of online shoppers were dissatisfied with their online shopping experience. 8 A recent study on Malaysian online shopping behaviour reveal that only 12% of the respondents are satisfied with online shopping sites. 9 Further researches had concluded that by providing good service quality, online retailers will have higher profitability as they build higher loyalty among their consumers. 10-12 Owing to the fact that evaluation of Internet retail service quality is important, the key question today is to identify the critical dimensions used in consumers' evaluation. The dominant model used for assessing service quality is the SERVQUAL model consisting of dimensions such as tangibility, responsiveness, reliability, empathy and assurance which was developed by Parasuraman, Berry and Zeithmal. 13 Despite the popularity of this model in the academic and practitioner domain, the validity of this model is being questioned in an online context. Technology revolution has changed how service is provided today, where there is no face-to-face interaction in providing web based services. 14 In a recent study, Koo, Kim and Lee identified attractive web site design and a well-organized structure as important elements in attracting consumers' interests in buying online. 15 Osman et al. explored the importance of reliability, tangibility, responsiveness, assurance and empathy in assessing consumers' satisfaction and loyalty towards online shopping. 16 Further findings by Sobihah et al. concluded that user interface, information, security and privacy are key dimensions that can ultimately affect the consumers' online shopping behaviour. 7 These findings show there is difference in experience between purchasing through the traditional brick-and-mortar as compared to online purchasing through the Internet. Thus, researchers and practitioners should not make the assumption that the service quality dimensions constructed for traditional shopping channel will directly correspond to Internet retail service quality evaluations. As such, this study's key purpose is to close the literature gap by, first, identifying dimensions of e-service quality that are crucial web shoppers, second, constructing a multi item scale to empirically assess those dimensions and, third, assessing the nomological validity of the multi item scale by evaluating its ability to predict theoretically-related constructs namely satisfaction, positive word-of-mouth and likelihood of future purchases intentions. The next section reviews the literature that are relevant to service quality in the context of online shopping. Then, we discuss the triangulation approach (quantitative and qualitative) that were used to construct five dimensions of the Internet retail service quality scale. Finally, we will discuss the

The present paper makes an effort to analyse the reasons and causes behind the failure of Flipkart’s Big Billion Day Sale of 2014, its launching year, and since then what changes and efforts it has made to overcome its inadequacies.
As soon as the news was out that Flipkart is going to have a major sale on offer, it created ripples of excitement among people of India. And why wouldn’t it have? It was the first ever online sale of this magnitude, something that Indian public was witnessing for the first time. There were big discounts on offer which were hard to ignore. Even the people who weren’t ‘tech savvy’ were also looking forward to it. It was the talk of the town especially among the employed young generation of India. People started saving their favourite items in the cart for the prices to fall down so that they may purchase them later on the big day.
The sale was expected to be a huge success. There was much exhilaration and anticipation all over the country. Everyone was hooked on to it and waited impatiently for the sale to begin. On the day of the big sale, what followed was not expected.
This paper attempts to explore the issues which arose in 2014 and deals with the various aspects which led to its failure, what attempts Flipkart has made to overcome its shortcomings and where it stands now in 2016.

Abstract - The main strategy of today's businesses is to be customer focused due to the increase in technological developments and the welfare level of the societies. Businesses that want to maintain their existence for a long time develop business policies that will satisfy their customers and establish long-term profitable relationships. It is possible for the customers to shop more comfortably and securely, especially in online shopping, when such policies, confidentiality of parties’ responsibilities and customer information are clearly stated by the business. Complaints arise in cases where the product consumers want to buy does not fit the product on the internet, or the product information is inaccurate, and this causes customer dissatisfaction. Customers whose expectations are not met want to return the products they have purchased in such cases. For this reason, although the importance of distribution and logistics activities increases, it is desired to increase customer satisfaction with return management. Due to such issues, the purpose of this study is to determine the mediation role of return management on the effect of online shopping services of businesses on customer satisfaction. An online survey was conducted to 436 consumers in Konya, who performed retail shopping on electronic commerce sites, through simple random sampling, and the data obtained were analyzed through SPSS 23.0 and SPSS AMOS 22.0 package programs. In the study, a positive and statistically significant relationship was determined between online shopping services of businesses and customer satisfaction, online shopping services of businesses and return management, return management and customer satisfaction through correlation analysis. In addition, in order to determine the mediation role of return management in the relationship between the customer satisfaction and the online shopping services of the businesses, a confirmatory factor analysis was performed using a structural equation modeling, and the partial mediation role was identified.

Since 2008, private shopping sites have been amongst the leading business models in the world. However, with the growing number of these companies, there are some problems which are declared by the customers through online platforms. Hence, this study provides evidence from Turkey through the examination of the customer complaints from the leading private shopping sites. In this regard, 1,014 customer complaints were analyzed for the period of three months (April, May and June 2013) from the popular online platform “sikayetvar.com”. The findings reveal that private shopping sites have same types of customer complaints which occur mainly due to problems in the logistics capabilities of the companies. However, number of complaints differs significantly according to private shopping sites and months. This study contributes to literature through identification of variations in the number and category of complaints across months and among private shopping sites. Additionally, it provides managerial implications for private shopping sites to improve the logistics capabilities and other facilities

Over the last twenty years, Italy experimented a deep transformation of its socio-economic and technologic conditions, which influenced, among others, shopping habits and customers’ consumption practices. In retail sectors these changes, overlay with an incremental deregulation process, that had a strong spatial impact related with the competitions of brands and formats, offer systems, etc.
At regional scale, the evolution of national regulation produced multi-channel systems marked by a heterogeneous complexity. Policy community needs innovative tools able to support an effective governance for sectoral planning and its territorial impacts.
The aim of this paper is discussing different territorial models that authors implemented within the recent activities of URB&COM Lab (PoliMI), analyzing Lombardy region and especially the network of "retail polarities" that currently shows specific development trends as new openings, refurbishments, re-location, crises and dismantling, demalling, etc. which have effects on the whole system, integrating – and often competing with – the offer of urban retail systems. We present two different approaches to the modeling using as a support to the public strategies, that take in consideration “static” and “dynamic” data. The integration of these two approaches produces usable descriptions of current regional market competition and of the attractiveness – and the performance – of the retail polarities. Therefore, we explored the potential combination of those models with specific focuses based on Google Places service, that allow reflections about consumption practices and their working profiles.
The result is an updated, interactive and original knowledge, that supports sectoral and territorial planning, providing a new, integrated point of view about retail poles and their impact on regional scale.

This study examines the motivations for imitation in retailers’ online channel entry. Extant
literature suggests that legitimacy and efficiency are the primary motivators for firms to imitate.
We develop hypotheses that center on the belief that not all firm types would use the
same motivator for deciding to imitate and enter the online market; legitimacy would be
the driving force for some retailer types whereas efficiency would be the motivator for others.
We test our hypotheses on unique data collected from multiple sources. Our findings confirm
that the motivators for imitation vary across retailer types.

L'un des plus importants problemes de la fixation du prix en ligne consiste d comprendre quels determinants
en fixent les niveaux, pour mieux envisager la concurrence entre les canaux de distribution au
detail. On a developpe un cadre conceptuel et realise une analyse empirique sur les niveaux de prix dans la
categorie des livres, aupres de differents acteurs du commerce electronique (purs et multicanaux) en Italie,
et obtenu un ensemble de donnees offrant 5 400 offres de prix en 2002. Une analyse de correlations nous a
montre que le graphisme du site, la confiance dans la marque el les services de livraison elaient fortemeni
correles au niveau de prix. En outre, une analyse de regression a indique que les attributs du premier
contact, comme le graphisme et la convivialite de navigation, sont les principaux determinants des niveaux
de prix de vente en ligne. On identifiera quelques pistes de recherches futures, avant de proposer quelques
conseils aux dirigeants.

In this paper we highlight how the use of internet has changed from 2004 to 2009 among Hungarian companies, how their expectations about the role of e-commerce as a competitive
advantage has evolved and whether perceived benefits of e-commerce show a shift from 2004 to 2009.We investigate the role of environmental factors and market orientation as two
relevant types of critical success factors proposed by the management literature and measure their impacts on Internet usage, expectations about e-commerce and perceived benefits of ecommerce.
Our findings suggest that market orientation has a positive effect on Internet usage and perceived benefits of e-commerce. Internet usage and expectations are dependent on the
vulnerability of the company to its macroeconomic environment. The positive outcomes of joining the EU seem to influence whether a company is able to exploit e-commerce benefits.

The article shows a methodology developed for surveying, 3D
modeling, texture mapping, and real-time virtual navigating large
commercial environment (200 to 2000 square meters). Its purpose
is to define a process for generating a digital model of a
commercial environment and all the products contained in it.
Such model allows to interactively design the display areas,
verifying the relationship between the building and the furniture,
and the location of products on the shelves, through a realistic
perception of the virtualized Point of Sale (POS). This approach
allows to compress the timing of testing, evaluation and physical
implementation of such kind of projects. The consequently
reduced time-to-market involves a significant advantage on the
competitors for the companies and retailers involved.

An online consumer review, which is a popular form of consumer-created information, is provided by previous consumers. It often includes information and recommendation. This novel type of electronic word-of-mouth communication has recently been emerging as a crucial factor in trust building during online shopping. Our research investigates the influences of online consumer reviews impact on the trust-building process with regard to quality, quantity, the proportion of negative/positive online consumer reviews as well as consumers' purchasing intentions. An online questionnaire has been implemented to a convenience sample of 73 respondents. Our findings provide important managerial implications for better-informed e-tailing marketing strategy design.