Does online shopping lead to customer satisfac­tion?

ITC2013M: Fashion Marketing

([Lecturer: Dr. Kin Man To])

Individual Term Paper:

[Topic: Does online shopping lead to customer satisfaction?]

Word count: 2625 words

Does online shopping lead to customer satisfaction?

1.Introduction

In the recent years, the ways of shopping have changed dramatically. More and more people choose to purchase online rather than purchasing from a physical store. This behavior is driven by the advantages of online shopping. Including the convenience of shopping online, the ability to compare the price easily, the enjoyment of shopping experience, the secure payment methods, the product delivery and the detailed product information offered by the retailers.

These advantages could possibly satisfy the customer. The present writer holds the view that online shopping could lead to positive customer satisfaction. In this essay, the following will be discussed: the definition of customer satisfaction, the advantages of online shopping which lead to positive customer satisfaction, the disadvantages of online shopping which dissatisfy the customer and the differences between customer satisfaction on online shopping and traditional offline shopping.

2.Customer satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is a judgment and attitude, it does not refer to happiness, and the only way to express satisfaction is either satisfied or dissatisfied. Before purchasing, customer will have a perceived expectation of the products and services. When they have the actual purchase, they will compare the real products and performance of the services to their perceived one.

Customer can be satisfied if the expectation of the products or services is exceeded or equal. In contrary, if there is a negative disconfirmation, it will dissatisfy the customer. It is important for an e-commerce company to let customer content with their products and services because customer satisfaction could possibly increase customer loyalty and profitability. (Jiradilok et al.,2014, Sankaran,2010, Gounaris et al.,2010)

3.Advantages of online shopping

3.1 Convenience

Among all the advantages that lead to customer satisfaction, convenience is the most obvious benefits of online shopping which could positively satisfy the customers. It allows customers to shop in anytime and anywhere. Unlike the traditional shopping which requires customers to visit the physical store during the normal business hours, by simply access to the online stores by mobile phones or computers, customers can place the orders in twenty-four hours a day.

It can be beneficial to the customer who have long working hours and cannot spend much time on shopping physically. With online shopping, people do not have to carry heavy bags of purchased products back to home as products will be delivered to your home. It can reduce the time of travel necessity and the consumption of energy (Sankaran,2010). Ordering products from around the world is another convenience of online shopping.

Customers can purchase products not only from the local stores, but also from stores in worldwide as the majority of the online stores offers international shipping from which products can be ship to different locations. Customers can even purchase hard to find items or items which are only sold at some specific regions. Hamza and Saidalavi (2014) reports that the convenience of online shopping is positively influencing customer satisfaction as its simple design and ease of use could instigate customer’s onl.....[read full text]

This could meet the expectation of customer which personally think that online shopping is a relaxation and enjoyment rather than a task. Customers can feel escaped, pleasured and aroused from the enjoyment of online shopping experience. By escaping from the real world to the virtual world, feeling good and satisfied, and also being stimulated in engaging the online shopping activities and the unplanned purchasing (Menon and Kahn,2002., Mathwick et al.,2001).

This kind of feelings can satisfy the customers positively by meeting their expectation of an online shopping experience, which could help them to develop positive values and attitudes toward online shopping.

3.4 Payment Security

If customers do not face any problems regarding payment security during their purchasing process, they will possibly feel satisfied. The personal information of customers should be carefully protected so as to let them shop happily and confidently. Most of the online stores accept various types of payment methods. For example, TaoBao accepts payment from credit cards such as MasterCard, Visa and JBC.

It offers customer a wider range of choices for payment. Paying by credit cards are safe and secure as they have to get the approval from the leading card issuing companies which is legitimate. When choosing a payment method, other than convenience and security, whether it is traceable is also important. A reputable online stores offer a return policy and states their physical address and contact number for customers to call for reassurance.

It induces trust between retailers and customers, so as to let customers gain more sense of security, not worrying about the leakage of personal information. Sankaran (2010) carries out a survey investigating the customer satisfaction on online shopping in different factors. From which about 62 % of the respondents agree that they are satisfied with the payment security of online shopping.

However, some of the respondents still want to get more secure methods for the payment systems regarding the mediation of the third party for payment security purposes. It indicates that most of the customer are satisfied with th.....

From the survey carried out by Sankaran (2010), only 17% of the respondents disagree to timely delivery of products while around 57% of the respondents agree that the ordered products are delivered on time. It is also founded that most of the respondents do not face any late delivery problems after their payment were made. This indicate that most of the customers are satisfied with the reliable delivery service of online shopping.

3.6 Completed and detailed product information

A completed and detailed product information could possibly lead to customer satisfaction. When shopping online, the product information can easily be found from the product description box and catalogues. The majority of the retailers will give detailed and accurate information about the products by uploading videos of the reviewed products or pictures of the swatches to their websites.

For example, some online cosmetic stores will upload the swatches of lipsticks to their website so as to let customers review different colors of the lipsticks. Sankaran (2010) suggests that customers will be more inclined to shop online if the particular products that they are looking for have a complete product or service information. It is also necessary for the retailers to respond to and answer the inquiries and problems raised by the customers, and to provide information about the products that the customers wish to purchase (Gounaris et al.,2010).

This can let customers to experience good customer service and know more about the products before purchase. Which can meet the customers’ expectation and satisfaction as they can clearly know what they are purchasing and have an expected function of .....

The shipping charges for S.F. Express is RMB 23 dollars for the first one kg, if it is exceeding the first one kg, it will charge RMB 4 dollars per each 0.5kg after. For example, if customers buy an earring from a shop which only cost RMB 10 dollars, they have to pay even more money to ship the product, which is not a reasonable and fair price. At the end, customers may choose to give up purchasing that particular product.

As a result, customer will be unsatisfied as their expectation could not be met and they cannot enjoy the products that they want. However, this problem can be solved by gathering more orders with friends to share the shipping charges. As the more the orders, the less the shipping costs. This is due to the heavier the products, the shipping cost after the first one kg is generally cheaper.

If customers gather more orders with their friends, they can share the costs and enjoy a better price for delivery. This may satisfy the customer in a positive way.

4.2 Delivery risk

If there is a problem of the received products caused by delivery risk, it would possibly lead to customer dissatisfaction. Sometimes, it is possible that the product received does not propose the quality and performance that the customer expect, the purchased products maybe broken, scratched or missing out some parts. It will definitely dissatisfy the customers as their expectation of the products’ functions and appearance are not matched (Sankaran ,2010).

By the customer satisfaction survey done by Sankaran (2010), there is 0% of the respondents which have received any delivery of broken products, this show that nearly all of the customers are satisfied with the condition of the received products which is purchased online. This means that although delivery risk may be a factor which dissatisfy the customers, it is only a minor case and most of the customers are still satisfied with the products they received.

5.Differences between satisfaction of online shopping .....

Most customers will have an expected service performance and quality of the employees. If service loss occur, customers may feel angry and disappointed which lead to negative response and satisfaction. This means that customer service in physical stores is much easier to lead to customer dissatisfaction than online stores.

5.2 Experiences

Shopping experience does not only refer to the customer service offered by the employees. It can also refer to the environment such as the internal design and location facilities of a physical store and the website design of an online store. All these factors will contribute to customer satisfaction. Traditional shopping is totally different with online shopping in this aspect.

Wang (2007) indicates that in a physical store, the interior design and outlay such as space, light, cleanness, decoration and air circulation will affect customers’ evaluation of the store and their shopping experience. If the interior environment of a physical store cannot meet the standard and quality expectation of the customers, it will dissatisfy them. For an online store, the website design such as information ability, content, graphics and site navigation which guide the customers to shop are important factors which affect customers’ shopping experience (Gounaris et al.,2010).

It is much easier to control and change the website design based on customers’ demand and expectation by collecting their opinions because cost is not the major concern for an online store. However, it costs a lot for a physical store to change their interior design to match with customers’ desire. Therefore, it is much easier for online stores to satisfy the customer by providing good shopping experience for the custom.....

It is believed that online shopping could gain more positive satisfaction than traditional shopping. It is also hoped that both online stores and physical stores cloud better improve their performance and quality so as to gain more customer satisfaction.

References:

Gounaris, S., Dimitriadis, S., & Stathakopoulos, V. (2010). An examination of the

effects of service quality and satisfaction on customers' behavioral intentions in

shopping.
Journal of services marketing,
24(2), 142-156.

Hamza, V. K., & Saidalavi, K. (2014). A Study on Online Shopping Experience and

Customer Satisfaction.
Advances in Management,
7(5), 38.

Jiradilok, T., Malisuwan, S., Madan, N., & Sivaraks, J. (2014). The Impact of

Customer Satisfaction on Online Purchasing: A Case Study Analysis in

Thailand.
Journal of Economics, Business and Management,
2(1), 5-11.

Mathwick, C., Malhotra, N.K. and Rigdon, E. (2001), “Experiential value:

conceptualization, measurement and application in .....