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TopIntroduction
Business – to – Customer e-Tailing first evolved more than a decade ago. The researchers of electronic commerce constantly strive to gain an improved insight into consumer behaviour in cyberspace. The rapid development of e-Retailing continue to explain e-Consumers’ behaviour from different perspectives. Many of the research studies stress new emergent factors which turns the e-Customers behaviour towards e-Shopping from traditional shopping. Let us have a look at the few statistics which adds-on feather to the e-Tailing.
The US retail economy was worth roughly $4.4 trillion in 2012 (US Commerce Department) and e-Commerce came in at $186 billion according to comScore, that would mean that US e-Commerce was worth less than 5% of total retail (See Table 1).
Table 1. Estimated quarterly U.S. retail sales: Total and e-Commerce (estimates are based on data from the monthly retail trade survey and administrative records)
The US Commerce Department estimated e-Commerce to be about 5.8% of Q2 retail sales. Spending on local services is worth at least another $2.9 trillion according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That means in-store/offline spending in the US is roughly $7.3 trillion.
Figure 1 shows the country-wise online sales for the period 2012-2017, which is increased and expected to increase in the forthcoming years. The reasons for customers shopping online includes: time savings (73%); more product variety (67%); easy price comparison (59%); and lower prices (53%). Customers use the e-Tailing websites, not only to shop the products online, but also to compare prices, product features and after sale service facilities they will receive if they purchase the product from a particular store. Many experts are optimistic about the prospect of online business.
Figure 1. Forecast: European online sales by country 2012-2017 (Source: Forrester Research, Inc.)
TopResearch Objectives
The research objectives are two-fold:
TopConceptual Background
The overview of review of literature presented in Table 2 shows the factors influencing e-Shopping experience towards e-Shopping.
Table 2. Overview of review of literature shows the factors influencing e-Customer experience towards e-Shopping
| Factors Influencing e-Shopping Experience towards e-Tailing | Study |
| (i) e-Store information quality | Süleyman Barutçu (2010), C. Liu, K.P. Arnett(2000), Seethamraju & Ravi(2006), Mehrbakhsh Nilashi & et al. (2012), Hadrian Djajadikerta and Terri Trireksani (2006) |
| (ii) e-Shopping cost | Civic Consulting (2011), Dan Su & Xu Huang (2011), Andrea Pozzi (2012), Susan Kleinman (2012), US Online Retail Forecast, 2010 To 2015 - Forrester Research, Inc., February 2011. |
| (iii) e-Store design quality |
Roy, S.K., and Butaney, G. (2010), Aykut Hamit Turan(2012), Barutçu, S. (2006b), Ki-Han Chung & Jae-Ik Shin (2009), Mohd Fazli Mohd Sam & Md Nor Hayati Tahir (2009) |
| (iv) e-Privacy /security |
Schaupp & Bélanger (2005), Mojtaba Nourbakhsh & et al., (2012), Wen Gong & et al (2012), Kirsten A. Passyn, Memo Diriker & Robert B. Settle (2011), Gurvinder S. Shergill & Zhaobin Chen (2005). |
| (v) e-Customer service | Mohammed Ateeq Alanezi, Ahmed Kamil & Shuib Basri(2010), Gwo-Guang Lee & Hsiu-Fen Lin (2005), Bahram Ranjbarian, Saeed Fathi & Zeynab Rezaei (2012), Dahiya Richa(2012), Haemoon Oh (1999). |
| (vi) e-Delivery service quality | Susan Kleinman (2012), Imam Tahyudin (2012), Srini S. Srinivasana, Rolph Andersona & Kishore Ponnavolub (2012), Valarie A. Zeithaml, A. Parasuraman & Arvind Malhotra(2002), Jason Rutter and Dale Southerton (2000). |