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The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of country-of-origin (COO) cues and pricing perspective based on the third-party seller's name, intermediary, on consumers' purchasing decisions on e-commerce sites. A model was proposed to investigate consumers' perception toward sellers' online reputation, the mediating role of trust between the reputation of third-party sellers and attitude toward e-commerce as an intermediary, and attitude toward third-party sellers. In addition, this study also looks at the pricing threshold of consumers who are willing to buy from a third-party seller that has a negative COO cue, which is an area that has received limited attention in e-commerce studies.

The paper opted for an experimental study using survey data gathered from general American consumers. Two studies were conducted. One hundred seventy surveys were gathered for study 1, and 171 surveys were gathered for study 2. The two studies had two product snippets which showed an Amazon product page with a list of third-party sellers. For study 2, all variables were kept the same – reviews and ratings for both products and sellers, delivery time, descriptions, e-commerce as an intermediary and brand of a bag – except for the price.

The findings showed that consumers' perceived reputation of a third-party seller has a positive impact on their attitude toward the seller and toward the e-commerce intermediary. In addition, the role of a positive COO influences attitudes and intentions. However, this influence is moderated by price when price is noticeably higher when compared to an alternative option provided by a seller from a country with a lower COO evaluation. This study suggests that the benefits of a positive COO diminish when a seller with a lower COO evaluation is able to provide a lower price for the product. In study 1, the results show that positive COO trumps negative COO. In study 2, the result shows that consumers lean toward a lower-price product and disregard their evaluation toward the COO. Furthermore, in study 2, results show that in order for the pricing to offset the negative COO attributes of a third-party seller, the price needs to be within 22–30% lower than the American seller's product pricing.

With the chosen research approach, the research results may lack generalizability for the other markets (e.g. Asian consumer market). Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions further.

This study highlights the implications of COO cues such as sellers' names and how they impact consumers' willingness to purchase a product. The second study investigates consumers' willingness to purchase when the pricing for a product sold by a negative COO seller versus a positive COO seller is different in an e-commerce environment. In addition, the second study determines that the role of trust has more impact on consumers' attitude toward a third-party seller than it has on their attitude toward the e-commerce intermediary.

Due to the cross-network effect, two-sided users communicate with each other, producing a coupling network. To study the spread of platform self-operation in two-sided users' marketing and purchasing tactics, this paper considers the differences in reputation acquired by platform-owned and third-party operating channels.

This study proposes a two-layer network with cross-network links: one layer represents the social network of consumers, while the other layer represents the competitive network of buyers. A closed system of differential equations, based on the binary dynamics of the stochastic network, is developed to study the trend and stability points of the platform self-operation dissemination. Then the overall benefits of platform are analyzed to unify the platform diffusion and pricing strategies.

The degree of difference in social influence and cross-network effects affect diffusion synergistically. Cross-network effects hinder diffusion when there is a significant difference of social influence between consumers and sellers but promote diffusion when there is little difference of social influence between consumers and sellers. Additionally, the network weights and reputation gap exhibit a nonlinear correlation with diffusion. For pricing strategy of the platform, it can achieve maximum profit when the pricing of self-operated goods and third-party-operated goods is equal.

This study considers the complex network architecture created by bilateral markets and the dynamic influence of group interactions on product. Additionally, this study takes reputation into account when considering the price and dissemination tactics of various operating channels, offering guidelines for platforms to control merchants and mediate disputes between various operating channels.

The purpose of this paper is to study the use of online recommendation systems on e‐commerce sites is which becoming more common as marketers recognize their potential to improve their own operations as well as consumers' shopping experiences. Since some consumers question the credibility of these systems, this study compares responses to such systems (classified based on their source into seller and third party systems) with responses to recommendations coming directly from other consumers. The latter may also be better suited for consumers today since many of them utilize direct information from social media on a daily basis. Past research indicates that reactions to such recommendations may depend on the types of goods they describe and therefore this study also tests whether consumer responses vary with types of goods. The study examines consumer reactions to recommendations designed for search, experience, and credence goods. Finally, this study also explores the most desired features of recommendations to help marketers come up with the most effective recommendations that help facilitate purchasing decisions.

The study surveys a convenience sample of 202 undergraduate students to test these objectives. It was a 3 (product types) by 3 (recommendation types) factorial design with multiple dependent variables and three covariates.

The study reveals that, irrespective of the product type, consumers react differently to the three types of recommendations that are tested. This study shows that consumers have the most positive attitudes and most frequently utilize recommendations coming directly from other consumer. This suggests that more attention should be directed to these recommendations in marketing theory and practice. Consumers also hold more positive attitudes towards third‐party recommendation systems than recommendation systems coming from the seller. They also have more positive reactions toward recommendations designed for search and experience goods rather than credence products. Finally, the study also examines the usefulness of different characteristics of these recommendations to help online managers develop most effective recommendations online and finds that it varies with different types of recommendations and products for which recommendations are used.

In addition to the recommendation systems that have been explored in the past (seller and third party systems), the study examines reactions to recommendations coming directly from other consumers, as these recommendations may be better suited for today's audiences. The study shows which recommendation type is best received and most frequently used online. It also tests reactions to recommendations designed for different types of goods. This study includes credence goods, in addition to search and experience products, since consumer reactions to recommendations designed for credence goods have not been yet explored in the past research. It also found that recommendations are better received for goods with a higher number of search features. Finally, the study explores the specific features of different recommendation types and based on the findings proposes how these online recommendations should be structured to be most effective.

Technology has advanced and led the revolution of the online e-commerce industry through various online platforms. These online platforms were integrated to enhance customer's shopping experience, promoting different business models including consumer-to-consumer (C2C) secondary e-commerce market. This new online business model has been gaining interest in both academia and industry due to potential opportunities and challenges to serve customers effectively. This study aims to draw upon the means-end theory to test a conceptual model to understand the role of engagement between different types of trust and satisfaction toward shopping on C2C e-commerce.

A quantitative survey method was developed to test the antecedents and mediator of C2C customer satisfaction. A panel service was used to collect the dataset (n = 294) to test the proposed extended means-end chain theory (MEC) model.

The authors found that the role of trust toward the platform provider and the third-party seller differs based on the perceived value (functional and emotional) and impact of trust on satisfaction. This study provides a rich conceptualization of an instrument for a C2C experience that can serve as a starting point for future research to investigate the antecedents and impacts of the C2C context.

Because of the chosen research approach, the research results may lack generalizability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed hypotheses further in a different context (e.g. country).

The paper includes implications for a guide to designing an effective online C2C retailing strategy.

This paper fulfills an identified need to study how engagement serves different role depending on the trust consumers have toward the intermediary vs the seller, which has a subsequent effect on consumer's satisfaction.

This study aims to examine the impact of logistics and merchant certification information on consumer behaviour in hybrid retail platforms. Furthermore, it explores the moderating role of online shopping experience on the certification effect.

The authors utilize transaction-level data from over 2.5 million consumers involving 30,000 stock keeping units (SKUs) on JD.com in March 2018. They analyse the impact of different types of certification information on consumer behaviour using ordinary linear regression and linear probability models.

The findings reveal that, compared with information without certification, (1) single logistics certification information can enhance consumers' search depth and purchase intention; (2) dual logistics and merchant certification information also has a positive impact on consumer behaviour; and (3) single certification information is more effective for inexperienced consumers, while dual certification is more effective for experienced consumers.

Theoretically, this study contributes to the literature on certification information in hybrid retail platforms and broadens information communication methods for online shopping. Our discovery is meaningful for managers in locating customers and allocating resources. In addition, we encourage online retailers to utilize certification information to engage consumer.

The case will help to understand the concept of online marketplaces and the working of their business model through third party selling. The case highlights how third party selling opens door to online counterfeiting. The case well presents the need of integrity and ethics in business. It showcases how Alibaba took responsibility, designed various initiatives to curb the problem and emerged as a global face for anti-counterfeiting actions.

Manufacturing and selling of counterfeits have become easier than ever with the wide and easy reach of technology. Internet has smoothened the sale of such fake replicas around the globe. Alibaba Group faced serious problem of counterfeit selling across its various websites. The various challenges were degrading global image, rising number of fake products and numerous lawsuits filed against the company. The case study will help readers to understand the critical aspects of counterfeiting and decisions involved to run such models where the platform is not a direct seller but just an online marketplace. It emphasises how technology and brand collaboration can be used as a means to identify and remove fake product listings from such platforms, thereby preserving the integrity of business. The case also stresses the need to preserve intellectual property rights and exclusivity of original brands.

Senior Undergraduate, MBA and Executive MBA.

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

CSS 8: Marketing.

After completing the case study, the students will be able to explore, create and capture the dilemmas of a platform strategy; compare, contrast and configure strategies for successful platform adoption; develop fitting configurations for marketplace design; and use temple framework to evaluate the dilemma of the element of time (do it sooner, delay for later or dismiss forever) in launching a new marketplace.

Shoppre was a parcel-forwarding firm established in 2017. In a short period, Shoppre turned out to be one of the best parcel forwarding and cross-border commerce companies in India, thanks to the first-mover advantage it enjoyed. Shoppre had offerings of shopping and shipping of cross-border e-commerce. As a new firm looking forward to increasing its market power, Shoppre faced the dilemma of whether to launch the marketplace, and if yes, whether to do it soon or delay it for the future. There was also confusion in the marketplace’s design and implementation. Nikkitha Shankar’s (she/her) worry was that if Shoppre did not decide quickly on this, there would be possible crises in managing the partners and their financial performance. Shankar was brainstorming the issues with the founding partner and was gauging the dimensions. This case study presented new marketplaces’ dilemmas along with managing sellers, customers, markets, finance, logistics and digital transformation.

The case study is suitable for undergraduate- and graduate-level students pursuing courses in business programmes and senior management professionals participating in executive education programmes. The case study will also fit well for courses such as the “Platform strategy: building and thriving in a vibrant ecosystem” course [1], digital business models [2] and digital business strategy [3].

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the effectiveness of systems for ensuring cooperation in online transactions is impacted by a positivity bias in the evaluation of the work that is produced. The presence of this bias can reduce the informativeness of the reputation system and negatively impact its ability to ensure quality.

This research combines survey and experimental methods, collecting data from 1,875 Mechanical Turk (MTurk) workers in five studies designed to investigate the informativeness of the MTurk reputation system.

The findings demonstrate the presence of a positivity bias in evaluations of workers on MTurk, which leaves them undifferentiated, except at the extremity of the reputation system and by status markers.

Because MTurk workers self-select tasks, the findings are limited in that they may only be generalizable to those who are interested in research-related work. Further, the tasks used in this research are largely subjective in nature, which may decrease their sensitivity to differences in quality.

For researchers, the results suggest that requiring 99 per cent approval rates (rather than the previously advised 95 per cent) should be used to identify high-quality workers on MTurk.

The research provides insights into the design and use of reputation systems and demonstrates how design decisions can exacerbate the effect of naturally occurring biases in evaluations to reduce the utility of these systems.

Research regarding the quality of e-tailers’ service during product returns is sparse and the little that has been performed treats returns as recovery from failure. However, that view is outdated. E-tailers' product return practices have substantially evolved and customers' return behavior has considerably increased, in turn, influencing expectations of customers. Thus, a need arises to revise the understanding of how customers evaluate the quality of e-tailers' service during product returns. This study conceptualizes customer-perceived e-return service quality, identifies e-return's current dimensions, and offers directions for measurement.

This study is conducted in two stages. The first stage follows an abductive approach, with a continuous back-and-forth movement between existing theory and two qualitative data sets to identify the dimensions of e-return service quality. Scale development process is started in the second stage to offer directions for measurement based on the empirically grounded dimensions.

The conceptualization of e-return service quality identifies six dimensions: (1) owning of responsibility, (2) return convenience, (3) return remedies, (4) service team support, (5) site's return friendliness, and (6) returns diligence. The factor analysis supports the six-factor solution that can be employed for developing a valid scale in future.

The study suggests that e-tailers who are looking to differentiate themselves through superior e-return service quality should focus on customizing their service through excellent performance on these dimensions.

The paper updates and refines the understanding of service quality in the context of product returns service provided by e-tailers and thus offers a novel contribution.

Electronic commerce (e-commerce) is growing rapidly and the e-retailers are finding it pertinent to enhance customers’ online shopping experiences and engage them with e-commerce portals. Against this backdrop, the purpose of this study is to develop a conceptual model of customer engagement, where credibility and usefulness of online reviews are found to trigger the adoption of reviews and customer trust that augments customer engagement.

A survey method design has been used to capture responses from 219 young customers (university students) of a reputed university in India. The hypothesized relationships have been examined through multiple regression analysis.

The findings of this study corroborate that the credibility and information usefulness of online reviews induce the adoption of reviews and propensity to trust e-commerce websites. The propensity to trust the reviews has been found to lead the adoption of reviews. The adoption of reviews is found to have a significant impact on the customer’ engagement with these portals.

The present study contributes to the theories of online marketing in the space of e-shopping, online reviews, customer trust, customer engagement and online shopping behavior. Further, this study provides a framework for managers to engage customers by triggering customers’ online trust through the facilitation of credible and useful reviews.

The study aims at understanding the role of different attributes associated with the online reviews’ credibility and information usefulness in driving customer engagement with specific focus on online shopping through the utility of online devices. The study is one of the pioneering empirical studies that explore the role of online reviews in driving customer engagement.