Thus the importance of e-loyalty in online retailing is obvious and a critical issue, as an Internet store has to face intense price pressures from different competitors. E-loyalty can be defined as customer’s favourable attitude and commitment towards the online retailer that results in repeat purchases (Rodgers, Negash, & Suk, 2005).
The Internet-based distance trade is a service and therefore an experience good whose quality can be judged only after completion of the transaction. The safe transmission of sensitive financial data for the transaction and the e-tailer’s general integrity in dealing with personal data can be assessed only long after completion of the transaction. Thus trust plays a central role in buyer–seller relationships, which is derived from the prevailing asymmetry in information between the buyer and seller (Akerlof, 1970). Trust has always been an important element in successful marketing and it is especially true in e-commerce (Urban, Sultan, & Qualls, 2000).