Enhancing E-Customer Loyalty to Online Supermarkets during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and a need to conduct physical distancing has led to the latest innovation in the form of operating online supermarkets to continue serving the customers digitally. This innovation is, however, inseparable from the influence of e-service quality, an antecedent factor of online sales. The research goal was on determination and ascertainment of the extent of requiring e-customer satisfaction to significantly boost e-customer loyalty. The research employed a survey method and an explanatory follow-up design. 203 respondents having implemented online sales in West Kalimantan successfully returned the questionnaires to researchers. The whole data was collected and processed through Likert Scales, the SEM-PLS analysis tool, and FGDs with 5 key informants. A finding indicates that it is uncertain that e-customer satisfaction is crucially needed for the improvement of e-customer loyalty. It, conversely, turns out that process quality and service recovery undoubtedly have direct, significant influences on e-customer loyalty. In addition to the finding, there is the insignificance of outcome quality for this loyalty.