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Top1. Introduction
E-commerce is an important marketing channel for companies to facilitate the sale of products and services. E-commerce is gaining in importance because of the present situation where it has become imperative for customers to do a majority of their transactions online. Companies are embracing and adopting e-commerce to conduct businesses. E-commerce uses a website to facilitate the process of transaction online. Online retail sales have become a preferred mode of transaction over the last few years because of several reasons (Hamidi & Moradi, 2017). Online retailers are able to provide timely, convenient, and informative experiences for their customers (Jusop, Ismail, & Ismail, 2020). Online retailing also encompasses a vast range of businesses. E-commerce helps in saving the cost which might have been incurred otherwise for retail floor space, staff, and inventory (Martin & Murphy, 2017). Customers can get information about products practically with the single click of a mouse. For all these reasons, online retailers can sell their offerings at lower prices than traditional marketing channels to both mass markets and niche markets (Genchev, 2020). However, online retailers compete amongst themselves in three major aspects of transaction. Each online retailer should ensure that the customer interaction with the website is satisfactory, the delivery is on time, and the problems are addressed satisfactorily when they occur (Dhingra, Gupta, & Bhatt, 2020). Some companies are pure-click companies. These companies exist only in the virtual space and there is no physical presence. Customers prefer online transactions because of convenience and saving in time. Some companies are brick-and-click companies which have presence both in physical space and in virtual space. Both types of companies develop strategies to delight their customers (Glanz, Larson, & Lehren, 2014). They ensure that customers have pleasurable experiences during online transactions on their websites.
The discussions underline the importance of e-commerce and m-commerce for achieving success in business. This indicates that the various aspects of e-commerce and m-commerce and the necessity of adopting e-commerce and m-commerce should be studied in-depth. Also, consumer privacy and security are major issues related to e-commerce and m-commerce activities. Studies focusing on conducting an in-depth study about e-commerce and m-commerce and their adoption are missing. Studies also do not seem to focus on an in-depth discussion about consumer privacy and security in e-commerce and m-commerce. The present study aims to address this research gap.
The study focuses on the various aspects of e-commerce and m-commerce and their roles in generating customer delight. It aims to conduct a qualitative and conceptual analysis of the literature on e-commerce and m-commerce and to understand the different and critical success factors for e-commerce and m-commerce.
The methodology adopted is a qualitative and a conceptual analysis of the literature on e-commerce and m-commerce. The study analyses the various aspects of e-commerce and m-commerce. However, primary data was not collected and empirical analysis was not done.
The novelty and the contributions of the study lie in the fact that an in-depth discussion of pure-click companies, brick-and-click companies, and the various strategies followed by companies conducting e-commerce and m-commerce are discussed. Critical success factors for various types of e-commerce companies are discussed. The advantages and disadvantages of the strategies adopted by e-commerce and m-commerce companies are discussed. Customers are worried about the privacy and the security of the information shared by them with companies. The discussions will sensitize academicians and managers about the importance of consumer privacy, security, and safety. Based on the discussions, companies will be encouraged to adopt strategies, initiatives, and measures which will protect consumer privacy, security, and safety. Such measures will assure customers that companies really care and will help in building long-term customer relationships.
The study is structured as follows.