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Top1. Prelude
Ever since its debut in India a decade ago, e-tailing has been a topic of extensive research amongst both, academicians as well as practitioners. The results from these studies have often been interesting, providing new insights into consumer behaviour with regards to e-tailing. Advent of e-tailers has distorted market dimensions for the traditional retails in India. Indian e-commerce market is expected to exceed US$ 200 billion from the existing approximately US$ 32.7 billion by 2026 (Joseph, 2019). The phenomenal growth can be attributed to cheaper internet tariff and rapid diffusion of smart phones. Certain other reasons can be the increased usage of digital wallets and cash backs offered (Mishra et al., 2016). Every year the internet users are also increasing in number buoyed by the cheaper 4G network rates. Digital transformation in the telecom and IT industry is likely to increase India’s total internet user base to 0.829 billion by 2021 from 0.560 billion as of September 2018 (Das et.al, 2019).
Although internet penetration and e-business are growing, but so is the competition in the business cyberspace, therefore defending market share and offering value to customers are becoming major challenges (Chakraborty, 2018). Differentiation or identifying a new segment can be a way out, as also can be the service quality offered to customers thought of as a key differentiator. However, quantifying quality of service is difficult as it includes multiple factors related to customer experiences like risk perception, responsiveness, empathy, user friendly website, etc. (Kim, et al 2006; Chakraborty, 2019c) and moreover, competitors will be quick to replicate their business processes accordingly (Chakraborty, 2019d). The success of an e-business depends on meeting customer expectation effectively and efficiently (Madu and Madu, 2002; Chakraborty, 2019b). Therefore, a better insight into customer decision making process and preferences can help create sustainable business model (Kumar, Dhir, Talwar, Chakraborty & Kaur, 2021).