Customer Satisfaction with Electronic Service Encounters

Cross-Border Electronic Commerce: Distance Effects and Express Delivery in European Union Markets

“…They can increase the repurchase rate by providing satisfactory levels of service quality to improve loyalty [11,49,51], and the order size by exploiting threshold effects [4] and by offering discounted or free shipping [24]. The quality of provided services is important to attract and retain e-customers [41,52]. The usefulness of e-commerce to customers depends on how far it simplifies and improves the effectiveness of their shopping.…”

“…Online shoppers experience costs in terms of product price, charged prices for transportation and delivery, and waiting time between order and delivery, and they experience benefits in terms of quality of delivered products and value of offered services. Because online customers miss face-to-face contact with retailers, e-commerce managers need to pay attention to all the aspects of the buying experience and the satisfaction of their customers [41,52]. Better experiences lead to higher customer e-loyalty, defined as the "customer's favourable attitude toward the e-retailer that results in repeat buying behaviour" [54, page 42].…”

“…For example, they can reduce psychological barriers for crossborder clients by offering websites in their own language, by personalizing websites based on client-specific purchase history and personal information [25,41], and by simplifying the search for and comparison of products and suppliers through websites for international product comparisons and supplier ratings [46,64]. Suppliers can also improve the objective cost and time dimensions of distance to their clients.…”

How do Service Encounters Impact on Relationship Benefits

“…Interpersonal-based service encounters refer to a process in which the service provider always interacts with the customer on a face-to-face base (Lovelock et al, 2009). In contrast, various technologies such as automated teller machines (ATMs) and the Internet have been incorporated into the service delivery process making it possible to create new services (Massad et al, 2006). For example, the Internet enables firms to develop interactive contacts with their customers, and when new elements are added to the service components of customer relationships, these relationships are simultaneously expanded.…”

Essential Functionalities for Commercial Internet Presence

“…As a commercial website is the first point of contact between an online customer and a company, or online seller, it will influence the consumer's decision of whether or not to buy (Massad, Heckman, & Crowston, 2006). In order to effectively communicate with potential consumers, a commercial internet presence has to be well built (Lin & Lu, 2000), so companies need to investment in its design to facilitate information searching, while supporting the buying or shopping process (from information gathering to actual purchase), thus contributing for increased sales (Bridges & Florsheim, 2008).…”