Consumer behavior in electronic retailing and the critical success factors affecting consumer preferences and loyalty

Abstract

E-tailing sales volume in Turkey has increased more than four times since 2003 with increasing popularity of online shopping. While the revenues continue togrow, the increasingly competitive market forces e-tailing companies to understand online consumer behavior and the factors influencing consumers for e-store choices. Internet environment lowers barriers for customers switching between e-stores; thusretaining existing customers as loyal is a key challenge for success. This study aimsto examine the relations between online consumer behavior and the critical success factors of e-tailing (including both visit and purchase factors); and also the relationbetween the priority of these critical success factors for consumers and online loyaltyincluding switching cost concept after an exploratory research. Data collected from258 online customers was analyzed by using descriptive, factor, correlation, and regression analyses. The results of analyses show that there are negative and positiverelations between the consumer characteristics; and Web traffic, the effectiveness ofadvertising tools for visit, and the critical success factors for purchase. Finally, thisstudy shows that loyalty and swithing cost have different critical success factors as leading inputs although they are positive correlated.