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1 – 10 of over 11000This research identifies the critical factors of online service delivery of electronic commerce (e-commerce) websites, including website attractiveness, website functionality…
Abstract
Purpose
This research identifies the critical factors of online service delivery of electronic commerce (e-commerce) websites, including website attractiveness, website functionality, website security and consumer fulfillment during an unprecedented Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
A structured questionnaire was used to gather data from 430 online respondents who were members of popular social media groups. The survey instrument relied on valid and reliable measures relating to electronic service quality (e-SERVQUAL) to better understand the participants’ satisfaction with shopping websites, as well as their loyal behaviors and word-of-mouth activities.
Findings
The findings reported that consumers valued the e-commerce websites’ features and their consumer order fulfillment capabilities. These factors increase the consumers’ satisfaction with online shopping experiences, generate repeat business, as well as positive reviews on social media.
Research limitations/implications
This study addresses a knowledge gap in academia. To date, little research has focused on the consumer order fulfillment aspect of e-commerce transactions and on after-sales of online businesses.
Originality/value
This contribution posits that e-commerce websites ought to be appealing, functional and offer secure transactions. More importantly, it suggests that merchants should consistently deliver personalized service in all stages of an online purchase, including after the delivery of the ordered products.
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David Ackerman and Kristen Walker
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of the physical environment of night markets in Taiwan, mediated by “renao” (translated as bustling with noise and excitement…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of the physical environment of night markets in Taiwan, mediated by “renao” (translated as bustling with noise and excitement) on need fulfillment and shopping satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
Grounded theory, interviews and observation in Study One identify concepts important to understanding why consumers shopped in night markets. Study Two employs a survey method to test findings from Study One concerning relationships between fulfillment of social and hedonic needs, physical factors and renao on consumer perceptions of the night market.
Findings
This paper suggests dense physical environments of night markets serve needs of consumers in cultures with an interdependent self‐concept by creating renao. The physical environment impacts the social and experiential needs fulfilled by shopping there, ultimately affecting satisfaction with and use of the market. They also find the dynamics of renao in a collectivist society act as a mediating factor in this process.
Research limitations/implications
The experience of being around many people creating bustle and excitement in the retail environment is important to need fulfillment and satisfaction of shoppers in this collectivist culture. Future research could expand to other collectivist cultures and compare results with those for shoppers in individualist cultures.
Practical implications
This research will help those in tourism and hospitality planning understand how socio‐cultural norms influence use of retail space and leisure shopping satisfaction.
Originality/value
This paper provides evidence that consumers in collectivist cultures may be more attracted to densely concentrated retail spaces.
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Soroosh Saghiri, Emel Aktas and Maryam Mohammadipour
Perishable inventory management for the grocery sector has become more challenging with extended omnichannel activities and emerging consumer expectations. This paper aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
Perishable inventory management for the grocery sector has become more challenging with extended omnichannel activities and emerging consumer expectations. This paper aims to identify and formalize key performance measures of omnichannel perishable inventory management (OCPI) and explore the influence of operational and market-related factors on these measures.
Design/methodology/approach
The inductive approach of this research synthesizes three performance measures (product waste, lost sales and freshness) and four influencing factors (channel effect, demand variability, product perishability and shelf life visibility) for OCPI, through industry investigation, expert interviews and a systematic literature review. Treating OCPI as a complex adaptive system and considering its transaction costs, this paper formalizes the OCPI performance measures and their influencing factors in two statements and four propositions, which are then tested through numerical analysis with simulation.
Findings
Product waste, lost sales and freshness are identified as distinctive OCPI performance measures, which are influenced by product perishability, shelf life visibility, demand variability and channel effects. The OCPI sensitivity to those influencing factors is diverse, whereas those factors are found to moderate each other's effects.
Practical implications
To manage perishables more effectively, with less waste and lost sales for the business and fresher products for the consumer, omnichannel firms need to consider store and online channel requirements and strive to reduce demand variability, extend product shelf life and facilitate item-level shelf life visibility. While flexible logistics capacity and dynamic pricing can mitigate demand variability, the product shelf life extension needs modifications in product design, production, or storage conditions. OCPI executives can also increase the product shelf life visibility through advanced stock monitoring/tracking technologies (e.g. smart tags or more comprehensive barcodes), particularly for the online channel which demands fresher products.
Originality/value
This paper provides a novel theoretical view on perishables in omnichannel systems. It specifies the OCPI performance, beyond typical inventory policies for cost minimization, while discussing its sensitivity to operations and market factors.
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Many traditional retailers use the internet as a complementary business channel and thus sell products through multiple channels. In contrast, “pure player” internet retailers…
Abstract
Purpose
Many traditional retailers use the internet as a complementary business channel and thus sell products through multiple channels. In contrast, “pure player” internet retailers only sell products via the internet. A proliferation of pure players over the past few years has intensified competition in the online shopping market and the question of who is better at offering physical distribution service quality (PDSQ), multi‐channel retailers or pure players, is open to debate. Despite PDSQ's importance in an electronic commerce environment there are few studies to date and most have focused on general service quality of internet shopping. The purpose of this paper is to discuss this phenomenon and posit a conceptual framework for further investigation.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper reviews the literature to develop variables and constructs for investigation following the first stage of Churchill's paradigm for scale development, which are presented in a framework based on the concept of order fulfilment as a key driver in electronic PDSQ, or e‐PDSQ.
Research limitations/implications
The framework is presented for future investigation, thus there is no empirical study in this paper.
Practical implications
PDSQ has strategic importance for retailers to achieve competitive advantage and offer superior customer service, particularly for pure players as they are considered intangible services compared to their multi‐channel competitors. This importance also extends to the e‐commerce environment.
Originality/value
Earlier work has provided insight into how e‐PDSQ, represented by availability, timeliness and reliability, is affected by pricing, transactions and firms. This paper extends this work and presents an e‐PDSQ framework to investigate differences between multi‐channel and pure player retailers.
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Daniel Taylor, Sebastian Brockhaus, A. Michael Knemeyer and Paul Murphy
Since the emergence of e-commerce uprooted traditional brick-and-mortar retail in the early 2000s, many retailers have reacted by first independently servicing both the online and…
Abstract
Purpose
Since the emergence of e-commerce uprooted traditional brick-and-mortar retail in the early 2000s, many retailers have reacted by first independently servicing both the online and in-store channels (multichannel retailing) and subsequently integrating both channels to provide a seamless front-end customer interface (omnichannel retailing). Accordingly, firms had to adjust their logistics and supply chain management (SCM) processes from fulfilling orders for each channel separately to integrating channels on the back-end (omnichannel fulfillment). This development is mirrored by an emerging stream of academic publications. The purpose of this paper is to provide a snapshot of the current state of omnichannel fulfillment research via a systematic literature review (SLR) in order to identify omnichannel fulfillment strategies and to establish an agenda for future inquiry.
Design/methodology/approach
This SLR is based on 104 papers published in peer-reviewed journals through December 2018. It employs a six-step process, from research question to the presentation of the insights.
Findings
All selected manuscripts are categorized based on demographics such as publication date, outlet, methodology, etc. Analysis of the manuscripts suggests that the integration of fulfillment channel inventory and resources is becoming an important objective of fulfillment management. Appropriate omnichannel strategies based on retailer attributes are not well understood. Industry specific research has been conducted necessitating generalized extension for retailers. These findings provide a clear opportunity for the academic community to take more of the lead in terms of knowledge creation by proposing paths for industry pursuit of channel integration to successfully implement omnichannel fulfillment. Opportunities for future inquiry are highlighted.
Originality/value
This manuscript proposes a definition of omnichannel fulfillment strategies and identifies fulfillment links that are used interchangeably across channels as the key delimiter between omnichannel fulfillment strategies and related concepts. Six omnichannel fulfillment strategies from the extant literature are identified and conceptualized. Future research opportunities around omnichannel fulfillment, potential interdependencies between the established strategies and their impact on related SCM issues such as distribution and reverse logistics are detailed.
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Bohao Ma, Jessica Limierta, Chee-Chong Teo and Yiik Diew Wong
The study proposes an evaluation model that allows quantitative characterization of the effects of service quality on consumer’s satisfaction for online food delivery (OFD…
Abstract
Purpose
The study proposes an evaluation model that allows quantitative characterization of the effects of service quality on consumer’s satisfaction for online food delivery (OFD) services in a nonlinear manner. As such, the authors endeavor to bridge the research-to-practice gaps whereby the effect magnitudes and nonlinear patterns of service quality have been overlooked in the current literature.
Design/methodology/approach
The quantitative Kano method is adopted. A Kano questionnaire was first developed by synthesizing and operationalizing existing evidence on OFD service qualities. The questionnaire solicited consumers’ evaluations of 21 OFD service attributes, and it was distributed to an online panel in Singapore. With 580 valid responses, the functions that quantitatively depict effects of each attribute on consumer’s satisfaction were subsequently derived.
Findings
The results reveal that among Singaporean consumers, food quality, reliability of delivery, responsiveness of customer support, ease-of-use of digital interfaces and promotions are pivotal attributes contributing to above-average satisfaction improvement across all performance levels. Meanwhile, delivery riders’ attitudes and real-time tracking functions emerge as substantial contributors to satisfaction at high-performance levels.
Practical implications
The findings provide crucial insights for OFD practitioners in Singapore in resource prioritization and service optimization. This study demonstrated the importance of streamlining customer support services and focusing on the utilitarian aspects of OFD services. Moreover, these results can be employed in advanced service improvement procedures, providing a roadmap for future OFD service enhancements.
Originality/value
This study pioneers the development of a quantitative quality evaluation model in the OFD context. With the established quantitative Kano model, the study addresses the omission of effect magnitudes and nonlinear patterns of service quality. It highlights the transition from a binary “does it affect satisfaction” to a more nuanced “how much does it affect satisfaction” approach, offering a robust understanding of consumer’s satisfaction dynamics.
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Supply chain performance is two‐dimensional: efficiency and effectiveness. The purpose of this paper is to further define and explore the demarcation between supply chain…
Abstract
Purpose
Supply chain performance is two‐dimensional: efficiency and effectiveness. The purpose of this paper is to further define and explore the demarcation between supply chain effectiveness and supply chain efficiency.
Design/methodology/approach
A case‐study research method is adopted in this paper. This contribution discusses an approach for the improvement of supply chain effectiveness, i.e. Supply Chain Kano‐QFD.
Findings
A case‐study of the fast moving consumer goods sector is provided which shows how the proposed “Supply Chain Kano‐QFD” technique can be deployed to engage the capabilities and enthusiasm of the firms along the chain to enhance the value of the final consumable.
Practical implications
“Supply Chain Kano‐QFD” is an integrative method which helps drive effectiveness by focusing on how the various supply chain members might jointly develop innovative solutions to create unique, individualized sources of consumer value.
Originality/value
A review of the existing supply chain literature shows that there is generally a strong focus on efficiency improvements while little attention is given to enhancing the effectiveness of the supply chain offer. The supply chain management literature, however, should evolve to address relevant methods for achieving consumer focus in the context of the supply chain, i.e. supply chain effectiveness.
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Seth Ampadu, Yuanchun Jiang, Samuel Adu Gyamfi, Emmanuel Debrah and Eric Amankwa
The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of perceived value of recommended product on consumer’s e-loyalty, based on the proposition of expectation confirmation theory…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of perceived value of recommended product on consumer’s e-loyalty, based on the proposition of expectation confirmation theory. Vendors’ reputation is tested as the mediator in the perceived value of recommended product and e-loyalty relationship, whereas shopping enjoyment is predicted as the moderator that conditions the perceived value of recommended product and e-loyalty relationship through vendors reputation.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected via an online survey platform and through a QR code. Partial least squares analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to verify the research proposed model.
Findings
The findings revealed that the perceived value of recommended product had a significant positive effect on E-loyalty; in addition, the perceived value of the recommended product and e-loyalty link was partly explained by e-shopper’s confidence in vendor reputation. Therefore, the study established that the direct and indirect relationship between the perceived value of the recommended product and e-loyalty was sensitive and profound to shopping enjoyment.
Originality/value
This study has established that the perceived value of a recommended product can result in consumer loyalty. This has successively provided the e-shop manager and other stakeholders with novel perspectives about why it is necessary to understand consumers’ pre- and postacquisition behavior before recommending certain products to the consumer.
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Arch G. Woodside, Suresh Sood and Karlan M. Muniz
The main thesis here is that the stories that some brands tell to consumers enable consumers to achieve archetypal experiences. Examining the stories consumers tell in natural…
Abstract
The main thesis here is that the stories that some brands tell to consumers enable consumers to achieve archetypal experiences. Examining the stories consumers tell in natural contexts involving shopping for and using brands informs explanations of associations of archetypes, brands, and consumers. The study advances the use of degrees-of-freedom analysis (DFA) and creating visual narrative art (VNA) as useful steps for confirming or disconfirming whether or not the stories consumers tell have themes, events, and outcomes that match with the core storylines told by brands. As a proposal, an extension of thematic apperception tests (TATs) is relevant in applying the DFA to brand-consumer storytelling research. The study includes a review of early work on TATs, DFA, archetypal theory, and how brands become icons. The study's theory, method, and findings provide useful tools for brand managers and researchers on issues that relate to psychology and marketing.
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