Impact of eretailing services on the overall

consumers satisfaction
COMPARATIVE STUDY: TESCO AND SAINSBURY

Abstract The following research paper is to critically analyse the role of modern retailing in attaining the competitive edge by means of enhancement of the consumers satisfaction. This is a co relational study aiming to investigate the significance and relation between the e-retailing and consumers overall satisfaction. The tools and progressive strategies designed and implemented by the marketers and business world to improve the retailing methods are discussed in this study. The past researches and models explaining the relation between selected variable are examined in the critical mode. To explain the importance of the study, numerous types of marketing and business journals are included and to reach to the depth of the problem environmental scanning tools are utilized along with the primary research results to reach to certain conclusion. In this paper, the interpretive research philosophy is the foundation for the mixed research (qualitative and quantitative research technique) to investigate the problem in detail as previously undertaken by Johnson and Onwuegbuzie (2004). The paper discusses and justifies the style of research in detail, followed by the findings and discussions.

Semi structured interviews from the managers and closed ended questionnaire was circulated in the sample size of thirty respondents to explore the views about the innovation and the consumer satisfaction. The hypothesis of the research was strong relation between innovation in retailing and consumers satisfaction in all aspect which was analysed through findings and statistical tools and the final result is that innovation in retailing is not the only contributor towards overall satisfaction of the consumers.

TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract Introduction 1.0Introduction 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Background Scope of research Aim Objective 10 Page 2 5

1.5 Extraction about other chapters Literature Review 2.0Introduction 2.1 Theories 2.2 Linkage among E-loyal, Customer retention and Consumers satisfaction 2.3 Significance of E-retailing 2.4 Influencing Factors 2.5 E-retailing services as specialization 2.6 E-retail Mix: (Applied from Emerald Report) 2.7 Internationalization

2.8 Conceptual Models for E-retailing and consumers satisfaction 2.9 Competitive advantage 2.10 Strategic Dimension
2.11 Critical appraisal of the Literature review

Research Methodology 3.0 Introduction

3.1 Research designs overview 3.2 The process of Research 3.3 Data Collection 3.4 Sampling 3.5 Data Analysis 3.6 Pilot Study 3.7 Research study limitations 3.8 Ethical approach 3.9 Summary of the chapter

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Research Finding, Analysis and Discussions 4.0 Introduction 4.1 Interview results and discussions 4.2 Questionnaire analysis 4.3 Z-Test 4.4 Summary Conclusion 5.0 Introduction 5.1 Conclusion 5.2 Answers to research questions 5.3 Limitations of the Research study 5.4 recommendations for future researcher Bibliography Appendix 1 Appendix 2 Appendix 3 Appendix 4

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Chapter 1
1.0 Introduction This chapter describe the background of the research, following motivation and purpose of the research. It also includes aims, objective, scope, and research problem. The review about other chapters included in this research report is discussed briefly as the end of the chapter. 1.1 Background: With the expansion and advancement in the technology, the world has emerged as global village where ease and convenience is the most common preference for everyone. Due to tough competition, every organisation seeks most adequate, appropriate and rational techniques to adopt and implement in business to remain competent in the consistently ever-changing market. Most of the companies firmly believe in Darwinism which means Survival of the fittest therefore changes according to the demands generated by the environment. One of the ways to survive in the dynamics is to ensure that change is adopted in the pleasant manner and appropriate means are planned and executed in response to the factors forcing organisation to opt for changes.

One of the area mainly targeted by the analysts, marketers, and researchers interlinked with the business world is to develop methods to increase their understanding more about the customers behaviour, attitude, preferences and satisfaction. By enhancing their understanding towards customers, business can improve their operational activities and produce better to meet the expectancy of the masses. It is evident in the past research of Reichheld and Schefter (2000) that outclassing the other competitors is one of the main visions of the business world and the goal is possible through enhancing the understanding about everything related to consumers. Alike other businesses, retail business are also considering the technology as the vital factor to influence the attitude and behaviour of the purchasers. More than to outclass the other sellers from the competition line, retailers are using different tools to remain in the business for longer version of time. Therefore electronic retailing methods are mostly practiced by the huge retail chains and supermarkets. Retail sector is the heavy contributor towards the economy of the Britain because of its close linkage with the social and economic dimensions. Rapidly increasing sector is showing consistently improvement in its sells not only in the European continent but in the other continents also the retailing industry is increasing its sales statistics. Comparing the retail of US, there is consistently improvement each year by increasing sells to estimation of 1.3% (US Department of Commerce, 2007). If we further investigate the statistics of retailing sector in the United Kingdom, there is 1.9% increased in the sales during 2007 (prospectus.co.uk, 2008). The retail sector as mentioned earlier is linked in two dimensions, in the social dimension and economic dimension, it created more job opportunities as 2.1% fulltime jobs are more than the jobs previously in 2009-2010 (prospects.ac.uk, 2011). The revenue touched approximately 290 billion in 2010 in UK (prospects.ac.uk, 2011) which is economic dimension of e-retailing sector. The survey of Internet consultant foster.com (2000) revealed that consumers prefer more to have their shopping from the e-stores than conventional retailing, that is indicating towards Reichheld and Schefter (2000) usage of word sticky for e-stores as consumer prefer to stick to it than going for traditional retailers. 1.1.1 Motivation:

The strong dominance shown by the retailing sector in the past few years and development of modern means of communication with the world of consumers are revealing two vital aspects that are (a) further increase in the total sales of retail products and (b) e-retailers are likely to enjoy the loyalty of consumers more as compare to conventional retailer who deal in traditional methods. With the expansion of e-retailing, the methods have given edge over traditional retailers as retailing become more flexible, convenient, low cost designed, quick and speedy transactions, customization, and huge variety of products are available for the customers (Srinivasan et al., 2002). The single click transaction mode is giving a tough competition to brickand-mortar stores as customers are considering the services of e-retailing as time savers and fewer efforts to reach to the products (srinivasan et al., 2002). The other researchers that inspired the present investigation is the work of Kuttner (1998, p.20) about the electronic retailing as the researcher strongly suggests The web is ideally perfect market as the information promptly come up and purchases have the facility of comparing the products of numerous sellers. The outcome of this increase the loyalty of consumers towards brand and simultaneously, it opens a wide spectrum for the marketers, researchers and the people associated with the business world to understand the consumers behaviour and loyal in the online consumption trends.

1.1.2 Purpose: Research study is always purposive by nature and this research is applied research so therefore, research contains a specific purpose to serve. With the development in the retail sector especially technological development has alter the ways and strategies of the retailers and the marketers in order to meet the needs of the consumers. These factors and forces prevailing in the micro environmental and macro environment are continuously urging the organisations to try new innovations and strategies to remain competent throughout its lifecycle. The main purpose behind this present investigation is to identify channels and explore the impact of those channels of the retailing on the consumers behaviour and how much it effects the satisfaction of those consumers. Since the investigation is co-relational study therefore it is vital to explore the relationship between the independent variable (e-retailing services) and dependent variable (overall satisfaction of the consumers).

It also serves the important purpose for the sellers and retailers as it is beneficial for them in locating the ways to increase consumers satisfaction. The one of the keys for the maximization of profit is the enhancement of the customer loyalty towards company; this is the most widely used technique by the retailers (Riechheld and Sasser, 1990). For the e-retailers, it is essential to develop the loyalty among the customers who use the web for the purchases of the products and services. This type of loyalty can be regarded as e-loyalty which means selling products online is provided in such a way that the electronic services users become loyal towards buying same company product. This will ensure that e-retailers gain the competitive edge in the market by increasing more electronic loyalty in its consumers (Srinivasan et al., 2001). This indicates that how essential e-retailing services are for the providers to have a full grip on because of the strong competition in the market. 1.2 Scope of the research: When a company decide to sell its product through internet medium, there is more requirement it increase the loyalty among the consumers because of lack of the physical interaction between the retailers and the customers (Riechheld and Schefter, 2000). Due to various factors there is a tendency of losing customers more quickly to the competitors, therefore companies must understand that the acquisition cost and retaining customer cost are two different costs, as retaining cost contains high cost because the lost customer is win back by this ongoing cost (Griffin and Lowenstein, 2001, a, b). The scope of research explores the ways how these innovative electronic retailing services has its impact and how it helps the organisation in managing their acquisition cost of customers. Research Problem: The major problems that e-retailing services are facing currently are the severe competition, quick switching from services and the cost of switching itself. To handle these problems, e-retailers need to ensure more steps towards increasing brand loyalty. In the context of this research, the problems are critically scrutinizes to reach to the real reasons behind customers switching services. Internet is one the medium used by eretailers to make customers more loyal towards brands by providing services at speedy rate (Papadoupoulou et al., 2001).

Research Questions: Q1. The relationship existing between the e-satisfaction and e-loyalty is strong or not? Q2. Are the e-retailing services influencing the overall satisfaction of the consumers or not? 1.3 Aim: To investigate the relationship between the variables in order to generate understanding about the impact of services of e-retailing on the consumers overall satisfaction in the retailing sector of Britain.

1.4 Research Objectives: To accomplish the above stated aim, the following objectives are set to be achieved as these objectives will assist the researcher in attaining the aim of this investigation: To identify and analyse the various methods of e-retailing influencing the overall consumers satisfaction. To evaluate critically by the help of primary research the patterns of electronic retailing at Tesco. To conclude the investigation about the influences of electronic retailing services on the satisfaction of the consumers. 1.5 Review of other Chapter:
The segment discuss briefly about remaining chapters of the research project. Under separate heading, idea about the each chapter is conveyed to the readers to have the understanding about the flow of the research work. 1.5.1 Literature Review: It is the second chapter in the sequence that discusses the different theories and models related to e-commerce innovation and consumers satisfaction. The last part of the chapter contains critical evaluation of the included literature and models.

1.5.2 Research Methodology: The report format contains Research methodology as third chapter that identified and justifies the research style, followed by research design, pilot study and ethical consideration. 1.5.3 Findings, Analysis and Discussion: Fourth chapter contains graphical presentation of data attained through primary research. Analysis and discussions are made on the basis of findings. Environmental scanning is included to show the internal and external factors influencing the organisation related to consumers satisfaction and innovation in methods. 1.5.4 Conclusion: Last and the fifth chapter of this research study justify the research findings related to objectives set in the start of investigation. The limitations and the future recommendations for the researchers are part of this chapter.

Chapter 2: Literature review

2.0 Introduction: This part of research study elaborate in detail the issues and suggestions related to retail industry in shape of theories and model works presented by previous researchers. This pieces of previous empirical researches discus the influences of the electronic retailing in the area of consumers. The focus of chapter is to understand the concepts and ideas related to development in the e-commerce so that broader theory containing critical analysis and complements are developed. This segment also help the researcher in examining the market models in context of chosen organisations that how internet base retailing have its impact on the value chain of these organisations. 2.1 Theories:
To conceived and establish a link between the hypothesis of the study with the past researches, a basic foundation is provided by the numerous theories. The literature is one particular thing that begins before the study and keep the knot of the continuity until the research has ended up, therefore it is the continuous process which aim to investigate the problem and finishes with the generating the solution to it (Kumar, 2004).

According to Kumar, (2004) Literature review is the process involving four crucial steps, and these steps are as following: 1. In consideration to ones own research investigation the examining of the related literature. 2. After that it is essential to re analyse the chosen literature. 3. The designing of the exploratory nature framework for the selected piece of literature. 4. The formation of strong based concepts for the present research is the final step.

2.2 Linkage among E-loyalty, Customer retention and Consumers satisfaction: Internet maintained a steady progress in the mid of 90s to make its mark as representation of the commerce and business in more convenient, inexpensive, low cost infrastructure, and diversified manner. New opportunities grew for companies to help itself in getting close to customers and respond in deliberate, efficient and effective way to the competitive environment (Kalakota and Whinston, 1997). For the communication and coordination purpose with the clients and their partners, organisations are focusing more on developing the internet base technology (Kalakota and Whinston, 1997). The quick enhancement in the usage of internet and excessive online shopping patterns made the researchers and the managers of the business to pay more attention towards the satisfaction of consumers and their loyalty in using the online shopping mechanism. Online markets competitive nature due to rapid increase in the service providers and electronic retailers has automatically increased the significance of the online satisfaction. In comparison of physical retail shops, the online retailing is more convenient and cost effective for the consumers to make a decision regarding purchase. The declined search cost on consumers and expansion of competition forms e-retailing channels to be more essential for the maintenance of consumers satisfaction (Rodgers et al., 2005). The consumers satisfaction related to the e-retailing services is linked with the customer loyalty therefore customers loyalty is more important to examine in a critical mode. Undivided loyalty, unstable loyalty, divided loyalty and no loyalty are four ways in which loyalty can be categorized and it is on the basis of customers buying patterns (Brown, 1952). This division show that the buying behaviour of the consumers is keys for this type of loyalty. Moreover, the loyalty will bring satisfaction more in picture as Zeithaml, (2000) suggests that repetitive buying pattern gradually enhances the confidence level of customer towards same brand and sellers can lower

their selling costs, by creating more positive image form through positive word-ofmouth. The study also reveals that as compare to the strategy of reduction in the cost, more profitable strategy is the retaining customers (Zeithaml, 2000). The customer satisfaction increases when the loyalty is formed through responding and meeting the customers need in more appropriate and better manner than the competitors (Reynolds and Beatty, 1999). On the other hand, various researches have been commenced to analyse the internet services in retaining the customers. For instance, Smith (2000) suggested that the quality of products and services, prices, and brand image form the consumers on-line deals more satisfactory. The researcher also proposed that designs and the process of communication (displaying the wide range of products at ease and convenience) helps the retailers in attaining the consumers satisfaction (Reynolds and Beatty, 1999). The level of satisfaction of the consumer is more closely linked with the provision of services in the adequate manner, similarly, the consumers will continue to use the same channels to purchase goods that are making them more willing one, although the loyalty of consumer is subject to be affected by the switching behaviour. This show that customers will be more satisfied when they are more willing to continue with the same type of services and that willingness is conceived through brand image and customer loyalty. The brand image is one thing that keeps the customers more satisfied as it develop their perception in more strong way and the survey of Srinivasan et al., (2002) argue that buying behaviour of the customers are always subject to their experiences. In other words, the satisfaction of the customer is depending on the past experience of the purchasers or consumers. To this point, literature suggests that customer satisfaction is more linked with the customer loyalty. The essential part is that behaviour of the consumers are based on their past experiences, for instance if consumers have bought something online which had disappointed them than automatically their loyalty will change for the retailers and their services which means that satisfaction will deprive from the original level. Therefore, the brand image is one thing that retailers mostly focus on because the brand image will help in retaining the consumers in more desired manner (Smith, 2000). The review of the above researches shows that consumer loyalty assist organisations in keeping their customers intact. The brand loyalty also increases due to positive word-

of-mouth, as it is obvious that customer retention is due to the provision of service quality and satisfaction of the customers (Reynolds and Beatty, 1999). The online services expand the concepts of electronic loyalty as it deals with the behaviour of the customers dealing online to have their main satisfaction in the transaction. The satisfaction of the customer if reduces, he or she will negatively view the services provided by the retailers as they switch to other service providers (Srinivasan et al., 2002). 2.3 Significance of E-retailing Services: The number of researchers has established the close link between the increase in sales and electronic retailing services. The research of Chan (2001) associates the high growth in sells with the development of e-retailing services. Furthermore, he strongly recommends the adoption of retail services as a need to cope with the competitive environment. Similarly, Lee (2001), and Dillon (2001) regarded the e-retailing services fundamental requirement for the retailers as by nature it has the tendency to quickly increase the sells for the organisations. The notion given by Chang (2001) in his research is that in an intangible way, goods are sold by means of electronic retailing services. The study results of the above mentioned researches show that for the increase in the sales of products and services, one of the quickest medium is the selling product through internet. According to Reichheld (1996) some of the advantages of the e-retailing is the decline in the acquisition cost of the organisation, referrals, ease of access, reduction in the operational cost, and price premium with wide range availability. If we further study in details, we find that cost of locating the products and services reduce because in physical display it is not possible to display all of the items but on web, one deliberate click of the consumer can assist him or her in viewing the huge range of choices available. Where on one hand it is beneficial for the customers, at the same time organisation enable itself to control the operational cost, for instance, the retailer have to find the proper place to execute his wide range of product and services which further increase the cost of operations for him but on the internet, the e-stores can manage the operations in more convenient manner.

The e-retailing channels help the organisation in the acquisition cost as the existing client has more confidence in the organisation therefore they spend more as compare to the new clients. The sufficient amount is invested by the marketers to increase understanding about the new customers but such cost decrease due to web services as the online consumer who are satisfied only feed once his data into the machine and that is processed automatically afterward. This way business attract the customers more to use the web services (Reichheld, 1996). The other significance that is due to the eservices is that the satisfied group will always recommend the same product or services to other (Reichheld, 1996), this way the promotion of the brand continue to circulate among the different groups. The price is a vital factor for the customers because customer always evaluates the product in context of its cost (McGoldrick, 2002). When the customers buy product, they have the strong tendency to evaluate the cost of it while making the purchases. The physical purchase include cost like parking, transportation, time, and energy and some of the customers perceive that the physical purchase is more costly as compare to the epurchases but that is just the perception of the client. In the purchases on web, the convenience and time is saved but at the same time we investigate deep, the time is spend on the net to browse more and the energy is consumed more to search the right product, if we include the electricity consumption, we notice that it is equally costing the customer (Oliver, 1999). The loyalty towards the brand increase due to the transaction on the electronic medium and the profit for the organisation also increases when loyalty is formed. Srinivasan (2000) describe that the consumers satisfaction increase more due to the repetitive behaviour of the customer when opting for the e-retailing services. This is because of the loyalty towards the brand which satisfies the customer so much that he or she keeps repeating it again and again. This shows that the buying behaviour of the consumers is repetitive which increases the profit margin for the e-retailers because customers develop attitude which is more favourable towards the brand image (Anderson, Rolph, Srini, and Srinivasan, 2003). The e-retailing services help the organisation in creating a strong positive image as it is gaining the confidence and trust of the customers (McGoldrick, 2002) because

customers depend more on the retailers who provide them huge variety. This means that McGoldrick (2002) research emphasises on the adoption of technology in retailing as those retailers have clear advantage in the sector that are well equipped with the eretailing services. 2.4 Influencing factor: E-retailing has emerged in the line of factors that has vital influence on the consumers satisfaction as the retailing services serve the motive of providing the ease and convenience to its clients in the transaction on the internet. Satisfaction is in general term the summarization of the psychological aspects that are surrounded by the emotional expectations of the customer with the real feelings they have experienced (Oliver, 1997). The perspective of Oliver (1997) satisfaction can be defined as the examining of consumed experience (Anderson, Rolph, Srinivasan, and Srini, 2003). In other words, the satisfaction is actually that occurs after the experience take place which means when customer opt for certain product or services that appears to be surprise or may not be surprise but satisfaction is the positive feeling that occurs after experiencing well. The reason to mention satisfaction is linked with the retailing serviced provided on the web. The e-retailing service is one of the influencers of the satisfaction that assist the firms in retaining the advantage over competitors. Though, sometime customer who is not satisfied will probably search for different available alternatives offered by the other service providers. To reduce the dependency of the same retailers whom from the customer is not satisfied, a resist is made as a deliberate attempt (Anderson, Rolph, Srinivasan, and Srini, 2003). Customer satisfaction is the consumption sense provided by the retailers in return as a standard pleasure to the customers to reduce their displeasure (Oliver, 1997, p.34). In case of the electronic retailers, the satisfaction is not driven entirely from the purchases of product (Balabanis et al, 2006). From the research of Balabanis et al (2006) it is clearer that the e-retail provide satisfaction to consumers in terms and shape of services than merely the products. The e-retailers are giving the e-satisfaction to the consumers when they provide the electronic services in the effective and appropriate way (Anderson, Rolph, Srinivasan, and Srini, 2003).

The Blog writer, Dave Chaffey (2010) on the website (wnim.co.uk, 2010) consider the e-retailing as the influencing factor by which the marketers meet the needs of the targeted audience in deliberate and planned manner through use of digital technology. He further argues that technology help in creating better understanding towards values, norms and profiles of the customers. This development leads to the electronic satisfaction The research of Anderson and Srinivasan (2003) confirmed that e-retailing services have an impact on the customers satisfaction as the e-satisfaction increases due to the e-loyalty of the consumers which is the factor working as the influencer. Campbell (1997) regard the repetitive manner of using same mode of services as inertia caused not by means of strong commitment but form on the basis of cues of situations. This means that there are some customers who get influenced by the method rather than the strong attachment with the brand or products. The study of Romani (1999) suggests that customers use services due to their convenience which can form the correlation between the customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. 2.5 E-retailing services as specialization: With the advancement in the web services, a new type of specialization conceived in the internet modes and interactions. Since the physical retailing is different from the electronic retailing so therefore the methods are also different which further leads to the form a thick line between the types of the buyers, sellers, market and mode and techniques. In a particular manner the customers are retained by the retailers as an outcome of these specializations. The fine categorization of customers as well sellers has been made which assist the organisations in outclassing its competitors from the market (Palmer, 2004). On the other side, Riechhelds (2003) suggests that the market is not formed deliberately but the distinction among the customers and special types of retailers gave a birth to a special market, known as e-market. Hence, we can say that specialization is a result of the differentiation that is an attempt to gain the competitive advantage in the dynamics and internet medium is serving the most vital base for this purpose. Ebay, lastminute.com, Amazon are the examples of the specialised internet websites that deals in the products and services of special type and customer always consider them as their

prime choice when they want to ensure that their transaction is done in the safe, convenient and reliable manner. There are also some other examples of e-stores that are specialized in their own line and run by a single person management. It is more in practice as they are offering commodities of general types through the electronic retailing services. These e-stores consider the model of e-retailing in order to increase their profitability. 2.6 E-retail Mix: (Applied from Emerald Report) Marketing mix is explained in depth later but it is essential to establish the link between the strategies of marketing mix with the customer satisfaction. Every business considers the satisfaction of customers as a crucial aspect to attain and therefore the concerned marketers develop the marketing strategies to increase the level of satisfaction of the customers. Marketing strategies include marketing mix used by Neil Borden, (1964) and Kolter (1997) describe it as a strategy used by the retailers to achieve the consumers satisfaction. There is a slight difference between the marketing mix and ingredients of the marketing mix. Though Marketing mix is first explained by Neil Borden (1964) but 4Ps of marketing mix was conceived by E. Jerome McCarthys (1960) containing place, product, price and promotion in marketing mix. These 4Ps served grounds for the successful strategies in the business. For the first time the online retailing mix model was presented by Lazer and Kelly (1961), as they define it as by means of internet shopping site, the electronic retailer offers the average means of goods and services to the targeted population. In the broader context, it can be said that in the best ways the combination of various techniques are used by the e-retailers to reach and present the product or services to the customers. A model is in actual the method of satisfying the needs of the customers in the most appropriate and different way. The model suggests that the place for the product should be based on the convenience of the consumers because customers prefer to shop from place within is reachable and not time costing. The model explain that product is the bundle of surprise for the customers as they seek their benefits and value in it therefore the designing and presentation of the product is vital for the e-retailers. Most retailers display products online in the most attractive manner so that customers view it as

package of benefits and worth value. The model explains about the price as a cost for the customers. Every time the customer is paying the price for a commodity, in actual he or she is calculated the cost in it as the physical purchase involve transportation cost etc, similarly, in the online shopping the cost is usage of internet, electricity, time and energy. On the basis of these various costs the customer evaluates the price of the product in exchange. E-retail mix views communication as the most vital element as it helps in the promotion of the product. The e-retailers use animation and other staff to make a product promoted in front of the customers. This help the organisation and e-retailers to built a strong image about the product. This E-retail marketing mix model is more discussed in detail by McGoldrick (2002) by explaining the logistics, brand image and related information as part of the mix model to assist the online retailers. More precisely the 4Ps of marketing mix are explained as 4Cs in the e-retail marketing mix and there is 3Cs more added in the marketing mix by Kearney (2000). These 3Cs are basically customer services, customer franchise and computing management issues to be more competitive in the market among other competitors. However, the concept of mixing of ingredients was coined first time by Culliton (1948) to explain the marketing world from the business perspective in the twentieth century. 2.7 Internationalization: In quick time, the retailing market has developed at the speedy and consistent rate as the number of retailing outlets has increased in the European countries more in the early 80s. The local markets are though focus for the retailers but they are concentrating more in the international market to establish it. One of the examples is Marks and Spencer which is UK based retailers and they have increased their international operations more in the recent times. Despite the rapid growth in the international market, it is generating more from the United Kingdom which shows that local markets cannot be ignored at any cost by the retailers because of the severe competition there are chances of local rivals outclassing the business which is more focusing on the international circuit. The strategies for the process of internationalization must be flexible one as the tactics can be changed at any moment due to shifts in the patterns of the international market Burt (1994) and Kacker (1985). The ideas of Burt and Kacker are to concentrate on the flexible and creative ideas to ensure that organisation survive

the stress and pressures generated by the environment. But research findings of Lamey (1996) have different ideas and therefore he strongly argues that there is no probable guarantee of any type in the retailing at international mode as its is high investment with fewer chances of sure returns. The stress in the international market is much higher than the local markets (Lamely, 1996). For this type of stress the strategies are proposed by Salmon and Tordjman (1989). These are basically three distinct types of strategies by these researchers for the retailers to respond to the stress in the international markets. Those three strategies are discussed in the separate heading of strategic dimensions below.

2.8 Conceptual Models for E-retailing and consumers satisfaction: This section discusses models presented by different researchers to examine the esatisfaction, e-loyalty, and e-retailing. 2.8.1 Model of Anderson: The model is to show the satisfaction of customers while using the electronic medium for their transaction. This model is proposed by Anderson (2003) which is explaining that companies use this type of sophisticated system to understand the needs of the customers and respond to satisfy those needs in the finest way. The research shows that online channels have impact on the individuals level of satisfaction. There is inertia which gains the momentum of e-satisfaction due to the e-loyalty of the consumers (Anderson and Srinivasan, 2003). The consumers are more satisfied with the services that have been perceived in the positive manner which means that ideally the trust of the usage of service leads to satisfaction. Such types of services used by the e-retailers give them more opportunities of increasing profits and responding to the rising expectations of the customers (Anderson and Srinivasan, 2003). The customers will stick to same services in the short run more if their satisfaction is more towards consumption of services but the perceived

value of the customers can alter in the long run by opting to other sellers and service providers (Anderson and Srinivasan, 2003).

Business Level Factors Trust Perceived Value Individual Level Factors Purchase Size Inertia Convenience Motivation

E-Satisfaction Figure 1: Anderson Model

E-loyalty

The above model also shows a strong connection between the e-satisfaction and eloyalty as the business and individual level factors influence the consumer behaviour that leads to overall satisfaction of consumers. 2.8.2 Model of Gummerus: The obvious phenomenon is that once trust is built, the satisfaction of the consumer increases because customers start to trust the service provider which also ensures that the risk and uncertainty among the customers gradually decline. The overall satisfaction of the customer is due to trust in the quality of services, need fulfilment, assurance, responsiveness and the other technical aspects of the web site or service provider is essential for the loyalty (Gummerus et al., 2004). The research model of Gummerus et al., (2004) strongly suggests that need fulfilment is the essential predictor of the overall satisfaction and the trust and confidence of the customer. The study views that perception of the customers in the customized way is in real the result of usage of technology in right manner. The model strongly urges that customer orientation and segmentation is vital for the maintenance of relation among the customer and retailers (Gummerus et al., 2004). The

The level of assurance will be beneficial for the organisations as unnecessary details ask to gather from the consumer frighten them which need to be reduced as the customers do feel high risk when service provider ask for too many personal information (Gummerus et al., 2004). The satisfaction of customer increases more when the feedback is provided at prompt rate by the service provider (Gummerus et al., 2004). The model of Gummerus et al., (2004) shows that loyalty of customer is linked with these factors and the satisfaction one vital link to develop a trust among the customers to opt to certain types of services on-line so that more convenient and ease in approach is gained. The model has shown that the different factors combine together to built a trust in the customers and alter their perception of fear in to satisfaction, once the satisfaction increases, the more possibility to become loyal towards services is strong.

User Interface

Responsivenes s Trust Need Fulfilment Satisfactio n Loyalty

Security Figure 2: Gummerus Model

2.8.3 Model of Vida and Firhurst (1998) marketing decision and research on the consumer behaviour [McGoldrick, 2002]: There are more researchers who have viewed that marketing decisions are affecting the results, Vida and Firhurst (1998) suggest that one of the internal factors is the decision making which shapes the outcome in every possible way. The researchers argued that on the daily life, there is a strong influence due to the strategies of the marketing which are designed by the retailers. However, the research of McGoldrick (2002) argued that it is not just the marketing strategies which have a vital influence on the daily life of people, but in fact their own behaviour of consumption have a strong impact on the decisions of the retailers. The two different views suggest that two things do have an impact on the daily life decisions of the customers and that are their own behaviour and the other one is the marketing strategies adopted by the retailers to attain their satisfaction. The comparison of two different views also suggest that the attitude, preferences and the behaviour of the customers are a prime factor for the researchers, marketer and the associate with the business world to determine because these variables are demonstrating the ideas and choices of the customers.

2.8.4 Gist Model of Consumers behaviour The model study of Gist (1968, p.85-86) firmly views the various personal and demographic characteristics as an identifier of the consumer behaviour. He proposed that consumer behaviour is closely connected with the demographic characteristics. The study also reveals that a retailing system is conceived in any specific region because of the individual behaviour of the customer prevailing in that part of the region. Retailers have used the technology as mean of responding to the needs and demands of the customer shaped by their personal behaviour. It is due to the changes in the behaviour of the customers which has driven the e-stores and e-retailing services going on in the world today and with the changes in the patterns of consumption, retailers have modified the means of providing the services to these customers at their ease. 2.9 Competitive advantage: Every retailer aims at attaining the competitive advantage in the market. Ohmae (1998) discussed in depth that changes in the retailing system and services are to achieve the

competitive advantage in the market and respond to the customers need in a better way than the other retailers. If they want to attain the edge in the market, than need to be more proactive in approach rather than being reactive towards the needs of the customers Chenet and Johansen (1999). They further suggest that self actualization is one of the methods to gain the competitive edge and organisation can create self actualization in the customers by providing products in the efficient and healthy methods. The huge range of available choices makes the customers self actualized as they themselves decide which product to chose, keeping the ease and convenience in their minds. Meyers and Eagle (1982) consider the technology as a crucial factor in the determination of the competitive advantage in the dynamic market, they stress more on the development of tools and technology that enable the retailers to reach their targeted population in the quickest possible way because this will do two favours (1) satisfaction of customers will increase and (2) competitive advantage will be attained by firms. The competitive advantage is possible by increasing the loyalty of the customer towards organisation and that is attained through satisfaction of customers (Reichheld, 1996). The marketing strategies are designed in accordance with the consumer behaviour so that they are satisfied and loyal towards same organisation that will assist in accomplishing the competitive advantage (Reichheld, 1996). The edge is vital for the organisations as it is beneficial in retaining the customer for a long time and all the marketing strategies are devised in accordance with it so that the more behaviour is manipulated, more satisfaction will increase and therefore more strategies are designed in keeping the customers behaviour in mind (Bendapudi and Berry, 1997, p31). Competitive advantage help in retaining the customers and this concept is regarded as retention of customer orientation which was linked with the behaviour of relational selling by (Beatty et al.1996; Crosby, Evans; and Cowles 1990) and market orientation is the generated concept that are viewed by the retailers as integrated part of their strategies and these strategies lead to satisfy the customer more so that strong position is kept in market by the retailers. 2.10 Strategic Dimension

As mentioned earlier that three separate and different types of strategies discovered and formulated by Salmon and Tordjman (1989) assist the retailers to progress in the market. The retailers try to reach the customer in the market through the strategy of inactive partner investment. This type of strategy is designed for the retailers who want to focus more in the international market; this strategy is beneficial in attaining the customer satisfaction as the company approaches the old player in the market and work in the partnership. The other strategy is active domain approach and in this strategy the homogenous products are imitated by the local retailers and presented in the local market with more modified technique. The strategy is formulated on the basis of neglecting the small and minor differences prevailing in the local products. And the third approach is multinational substitute approach in which retailers consider the local format of the business in particular geographic region and strategies their steps according to the requirements and standards of the local market. This type of strategy is considered to make more strong impact in the local market by the retailers so that the competition with others are tackled in peripheral manner and simultaneously attain the customers overall satisfaction. However, Williams (1991) firmly suggests that these different strategies are vital for the process of internationalization because it splits the market in more equal manner and large scale retailers design strategies to establish their mark in the market with more solid approach. One of these approaches is in actual the adoption of the electronic retailing services. 2.11 Critical appraisal of the Literature review:

This section is to analyse the work and theories of the previous researchers in the critical way so that the present research investigation is carried out in a more rational way. In the above literature review, the view of Kalakota and Whinston (1997) that technology serves the purpose of coordination and communication is partially correct because technology does not mean that internet is used as a devise of communication by the retailers. The internet is based on the prime function of ease and convenience so saying that technology has only to serve communication and coordination is just like ignoring the key aspect of the technology. In the above literature Rodgers et al., (2005) argued that the cost for search on customer has reduced because of the e-retailing channels that are providing more satisfaction but if we consider the fact, there are more researches carried out on the consumers behaviour in recent times so this means that cost has not reduced but in fact increase with the advancement in the technology.

Furthermore, some of the customers are never satisfied with the online shopping as they cannot touch and feel the product so it is not essential that the e-services will bring satisfaction. It will be more correct to say that e-services may bring e-satisfaction but again the experience of a customer is essential in determining that whether he or she is satisfied or not. Zeithaml (2000) proposed that level of confidence increase due to repetition of the eservices but then again, it is most probably based not on the repetitive usage but the personal experience. There might be a chance that this satisfaction decreases if there is a mishap or fraud with the customer. Such customer will not be willing to continue with the e-services who might have gone through trouble and disappointment.

Chapter 3: Research Design and Methodology

3.0 Introduction: This chapter elaborate and justify the methods adopted by the researcher for the current study investigation. The chapter also give details about research approach, strategies, philosophy, tools and instruments used to carry out research. The sample size, pilot study to ensure the validity and reliability of the respondents are included, followed by the limitation of approach and the ethical approach by the researcher in the execution and collection of primary data.
3.1 Research designs overview: 3.1.1 Research philosophy There are numerous different types of research philosophies adopted by different types of researchers as a base for their research design. These types of research philosophies are presented below in the research onion with the illustration of the research design, cited from Saunders et al., (2003).

For the present investigation the interpretive research philosophy is chosen because of the nature of the research is being qualitative. The quantitative approach is not so much effective for the researches of business management fields (Martin and Cepeda, 2006) therefore the philosophy of the research is interpretive one that goes along well with the qualitative approach. In addition to this, to be closer to the participants of the sample size, interpretive approach is more ideal and suitable especially when the size of sample is comparatively small one (Shaw, 1999). Furthermore, respondents are answering the questions in more of subjective manner than objective one in this type of research approach (Saunders et al., 2003). This research philosophy style is beneficial in elaborating the actions and the intentions of the respondents in more subjective and detail way. 3.1.2. Research Approach: Research approach mainly consists of two major types, one of which is inductive research and the other is deductive research. These two styles are parallel to each other as one induces data to reach conclusion while other deduce the data to reach to specific conclusion (Patton, 1991). The deductive style has more of quantitative approach which was the initial consideration but due to the research philosophy being interpretive therefore inductive style means qualitative approach is elected by the researcher. The main motivation for the selection of the qualitative approach is due to the small sample size so researcher can afford to go and individually interact with the respondents. Furthermore, the field of research study is United Kingdom so access to

data is attainable. The qualitative approach assist the research in finding the views of the respondents about the research variables included in research (Hannabuss, 1993).
Commencement of the research in depth and exploring the details from the respondents are possible in inductive approach as researcher can also check the validity of the findings by testing and comparing it with the previous empirical researches (Patton, 1991) 3.1.3 Research strategy: The ways by which the researcher executes the research is based on the strategies and for the current investigation the strategies of researcher is composed of questionnaire, case study and semi structured interviews from the managers. In other words, the combination of three ways are the basic strategy of the research because selecting only one way is not rational as every method has some lacking. In order to overcome those lacking the mixing of approaches is undertaken. Case study is effective as the research field is in reach of the researcher so the problem experiencing by chosen organization can be compared with other organisation (Bonoma, 1983). Interviews with the managers are part of the strategy as it gives the opportunity to interact with the experts and field related person more closely and the problem can be investigated from the inside. The questionnaire is the instrument used by the researcher to gain the feedback from the participants in direct mode. 3.2 The process of Research: The research is carried out inside United Kingdom therefore the official and the international language English is used in the interviews and the questionnaire so that most of the respondents can understand the questions in correct manner and respond to it easily, furthermore to maintain the accuracy and validity of the respondents, the questionnaire is self administered by the researcher. Being qualitative approach, it is significant for the researcher to gather the true feelings, views and feedback from the participants. This close study also helps the researcher in the next stage of the research that is interpretation and analysis of data. Due to close interaction, questionnaire make researcher feel things more in depth and from numerous ways (Schwartzman, 1993) which are utilized by the researcher in the next stage of the investigation. At the prime and early stage of the research, the researcher used semi structured interviews for establishing the mode of interaction with the respondents. On the basis of personal references, managers were approaches and interviewed later on. Total three managers anticipated to research and therefore each of the managers was interviewed for 15 to 20 minutes approximately. A survey questionnaire used in this study contains 10 questions and it was circulated among 50 Participants. However, only 30 people decided to take part in the research so the sample size reduced and only 30 respondents participated in the research

study. The semi structured interviews were kept deliberately open ended so that respondents share their personal views. 3.2.1 Primary research interviews: For the primary research two managers of Tesco and one manager of Sainsburys was interviewed. These participants were contacted through e-mails to provide briefings about the aim, objective, and purpose of the research. Through e-mails the respondents were ensured about the confidentiality of the shared views and their agreement to participate in research was attained. The appointment was confirmed for meeting through electronic mails and details about time schedule, methods and tools along with the ethical consideration were explained on the phone calls. The calls helped the researcher in clarifying the problems and confusions of the participants about interview questions and researcher provided information about the professional experience and educational background of the participant along with their understanding about the models and systems of e-retailing. The research problems and the sequences of the interview questions were also decided prior the interview, after providing details to the participants about the various marketing theories and business models. The scheduled face-to-face meetings with the managers were carried out on the following date: Manager one Tesco: 27th October 2011 at 2:10pm local time Manager two Tesco: 30th October 2011 at 4:00pm local time Manager three Sainsburys: 31st October 2011 at 2:30pm local time As our instrument of research is considered of questionnaire and the semi structured interviews so in the semi structured interviews questions were deliberately used as open ended so that participants share their practical experiences with the researcher that can explore the marketing and business world in deeper way. The participants were given the snap shot of the models and various contemporary issues related to the e-retailing services and overall satisfaction of the consumers. The following points were given to the respondents in particular so that they have exact idea about the research questions:

E-satisfaction and e-loyalty is linked with each other (Anderson and Srinivasan, 2003). The consumers satisfaction is built by the trust that is influenced by repetitive selection, assurance, need fulfilment etc (Grummerus et al., 2003).

The vast variety is available for the researcher to opt from due to the web internet services (McGoldrick, 2002). Electronic retailing is influencing the behaviour of the customers as the level of satisfaction tends to increase the brand image also (Buttles, 2005). The key to success for the e-retailers has been the e-retailing service that has helps the business by increasing the market worth. The competitive advantage is gained through improving the quality of product and usage of modified tools and techniques so that customers are more satisfied.

3.2.2 Hypothesis It is the general assumption made before the actual execution of the result. It is just a possibility that is serving the platform for the commencement of the research. Hypothesis is not the final verdict but just a supposition that this may be possible cause or the possible reason by the happenings. The finding analysis proves whether the assumed hypothesis is correct of incorrect, if the value occurs above 1.96 critical value of z-test than hypotheses will be rejected and vice versa. The hypotheses for the present investigation are: Hypothesis 1:

H0: 44% of population view e-satisfaction is equal to e-loyalty H1: 44% of population do not view e-satisfaction is equal to e-loyalty
Hypothesis 2:

H0: 60% of population consider that e-retailing is the reason for overall satisfaction about the organisations. H1: 60% of population do not consider that e-retailing is the reason for overall satisfaction about the organisations.
3.3 Data Collection: According to Wass and Wells, (1994) semi structured interviews are elaborated by the different types of distinct themes. Open ended questions used in the semi structured interviews have the important purpose to serve and that is to discuss and further elaborate the view points and personal opinions of the respondents. However, same open ended questions are not considered in the survey questionnaire because the researcher want to match the accuracy of the research findings with the past researches and furthermore, the interpretation

of data along with the sorting and categorization become easy as data is sorted in the specific manner (Saunders et al., 2003). By means of digital recorder the interviews were recorded and each interview was approximately 20 minutes without any break. The study is to compare the results of the two best retailing companies in the United Kingdom so that consumers satisfaction towards e-retailing services are explored and 30 respondents were considered for the questionnaire, as from each considered store 10 respondents were selected on random basis. Since the questionnaire was also self administered therefore the questionnaire was circulated among the respondents by the researcher personally. 3.4 Sampling: The sample size is small one as the research is only carried out in three stores, two Tesco stores and one Sainsburys supermarket respectively. The most adequate sampling technique for this research is stratified technique because the regions and location are spread over the region. Outcomes are easily generalized due to the stratified sampling technique which is beneficial for the researcher that is carrying out research in short time (Bartlett and Kang, 2004). The combination of random and convenience sampling is used for the selection of the respondents. These two techniques were used because of the peak hours sometime those respondents were included who were willing to participate in the research study. 3.5 Data Analysis: The analysis of the gathered data is done through excel worksheet and the results are generated by means of z-test. The calculation of the data and formulae details is given in the appendix 3. The adoption of this technique is due to the research approach. The research is qualitative therefore this is the most suitable manner to analyse the data in appropriate way. The past research of Parker and Coffey (1997) has developed same type of analytical framework and followed same coding patterns to sort the data in the most meaningful form. The results are presented through pie chart drawn by the help of excel spreadsheet 2007. The word processor is used for the insertion of the numeric as codes for the responses because of the qualitative nature of the research (Harvey, 1990). 3.6 Pilot Study: The researcher has to make sure that the participants of the research are genuine and there is enough credibility in their views and responses. For this purpose pilot study is a ground serving test. Furthermore, the sequence of the questions and answering patterns are more

visible to the participants because of the pilot testing. For the present research investigation, researcher made a small pool of the respondents and explained them the purpose of the research and the importance of feedback. While doing so, researcher ensures that the pool size is aging in between 18-50, and they can perfectly understand the English. The questionnaire was circulated and researcher read a load the each question so that if there is any confusion, it could be sorted out. The material regarding the models of e-satisfaction, e-retailing service and theoretical work was discussed with the sample size and credibility of the respondents were checked twice. Model of Anderson (2003), E-business model by Richard Thrombly (2000), Model of Grummerus et al., (2003), and Smith, Ruth and Wagners model of customer satisfaction (1988) were given to the sample size so that they can read in bullet point about the e-retailing services and customers satisfaction and respond to the questions that what are their views regarding the e-retailings role in affecting the consumers satisfaction. Through pilot study, it was confirmed by the researcher that the findings are gathered in the adequate manner and participants has answered the question on the proper basis of their understanding about the issues. The portion of demographic description also assists the researcher to access to the details about the educational background and the working experience of the respondents so that the credibility is maintained in a correct manner. The reason for using the self-administered questionnaire is to gather the information at first hand and attain the feedback from the respondents directly. 3.7 Research study limitations: This research study has few limitations and these limitation is in the research design as the researcher could not form a large sample size which would have given more generalized results but unfortunately the actual size of the 50 respondents were not even attained and therefore only 30 participants were included in the sample size. The small sample size automatically affected the generalizability factor of the findings. Second limitation comes with the pilot testing as the researcher did his best to brief the group formed for the pilot testing but those participants were only provided the snap shot information about the various lengthy models. Those models and theories were only given in the bullet forms without discussing the limitations of it so the respondents were not very familiar with the most of the other models which may have served better platform for the feedbacks. There are sure chances that some of the respondents were not very clear about it and have answered the questions in unsure manner.

The limitation of the research design increases as the research progress. This research is inductive based on the interpretive philosophy so the quantification of the findings becomes a difficult task. There are chances that the responses are not interpreted in the more desired manner by the researcher due to marginal chances of understanding the actual quality of response. The major factor for every research is the time and for the study at hand, time constrain remain a very vital factor to stand as limitation because there was obvious shortage of time in piling the data. Our research was inductive by nature so data was collected in the excessive manner from various sources and not all the information could have been used in the research because it has to served the specific purpose so some of the very essential data may have been missed out by the researcher due to personal influences of the observer, some may have been only discussed in short and coded way.

3.8 Ethical approach: It is vital for the researcher to provide the assurance to the participants in return of their efforts to provide data, share their views and experiences with the researcher for the research purpose. It is the moral and ethical obligation of the researcher to maintain the confidentiality of the respondents and use the information for the research investigation only. The researcher maintained the confidentiality of the participants by keeping them anonymous. It is the ethical consideration and ethical approach of the researcher to maintain the trust of the respondents. 3.9 Summary of the chapter: This chapter discussed in detail the various methods and techniques used by the researcher in the present investigation and provided the justification for the each step undertaken by the researcher while carrying out the research. In the beginning of the chapter the research philosophy is identified through research onion of Saunders et al., (2003) followed by the research design and approach. The research approach is inductive and the instrument used by the researcher is questionnaire and the semi structured interviews. The hypotheses of the research and steps to ensure how these hypotheses are to be analysed in the present investigation. The primary research and the pilot study are discussed to ensure that the responses are valid and the participants credibility is being checked by the research, followed by the limitations of the research design.

The last part of this chapter discuss about the ethical consideration made by the researcher to ensure that the confidentiality of the respondents are maintained in the execution of the research.

Chapter Four: Findings, Discussions and Analysis: 4.0 Introduction: This part of research study contains the discussions and analysis of the research findings gathered through primary research. The discussion is presented in the context of available literature review in the second chapter to match our findings of interviews. The second part contains the pie diagrams presented on the basis of sorted information of questionnaire and the responses are analysed with reference to the management literature included in the research study. Third part of this chapter contains the z-test results, followed by the summary of chapter. 4.1 Interview results and discussions: 4.1.1 Question one: Is e-retailing services a core competency for organisation to gain competitive edge? Manager one [Tesco]: Yes, it is one of the core competencies for Tesco because it has helped organisation in increasing its brand reputation. Manager two [Tesco]: E-retailing is a channel to reach the customers in convenient way so it is one of the competencies because it makes organisation a more competent among other rivals. Manager three [Sainsburys]:

It is not the only core competency but yes it is a marketing strategy for us to reach our targeted population and at times it has helped us in more than we thought it will help in the competitive environment. Discussion: The interview results shows that e-retailing is a speedy way of reaching targeted audience and to certain extent it has helped the organisations in attaining the competitive edge in the market which is similar to the findings of Meyers and Eagle (1982) that view technology as mean of taking over the market share. Furthermore, Reichheld (1996) also indicate that competitive advantage is attainable when organisations are able to satisfy consumers and e-retailing is one of the ways to satisfy the customers. 4.1.2 Question two: Is e-retailing a tool to enhance the consumers satisfaction? Manager one [Tesco]: Indeed, it is the most widely used tool to increase the consumers satisfaction. Manager two [Tesco]: If we are talking in context of particularly Tesco than yes our organisation is using is as a tool to increase the level of satisfaction of our customers. Manager three [Sainsburys] It is not the only tool but if the question is restated that one of the tools, in that case yes, the main motive is to make your customer content and happy and e-retailing is making them content because saving time and more convenient. Discussion: The research of Reichheld (2000) and Srinivasan (2003) the customers core satisfaction is due to their experiences and e-commerce is playing a central role in increasing the level of satisfaction. So we can say that retailers are using the e-services to increase the consumers satisfaction.

4.1.3 Question three: Do you think that there is a strong link between the esatisfaction and e-loyalty? Manager one [Tesco]: In the practical context I do not agree with it completely, the loyalty keep on changing for some individuals.

Manager two [Tesco]: Loyalty is more than person is satisfied, in case of e-loyalty same e-satisfaction is also linked because individual and business factor are urging to link two together. Manager three [Sainsburys] E-satisfaction make customer e-loyal so therefore these two are linked but not the only elements to be linked, other components are also linked. Discussion: Model of Anderson (2003) and the theoretical framework of Srinivasan (2003) shows that to certain extent e-satisfaction is linked with e-loyalty but the participant disagree to it on the logical grounds as it is not always the case in the real world. 4.1.4 Question four: Do you think that e-retailing has to do with the overall satisfaction of customer? Manager one [Tesco]: Certainly not because when we talk about overall satisfaction then only e-retailing is not enough, there are other factors also involved. Manager two [Tesco]: Yes, e-retailing is affecting the overall satisfaction of the e-customers. Manager three [Sainsburys]

E-retailing is playing its part in the increase of customers satisfaction but overall satisfaction is a different thing, it includes prices, trends, marginal propensity to consume etc. Discussion: The responses vary from one another as there are both views and similarly the empirical research of Smith (2000) suggest that overall satisfaction is influenced by the services of e-retailing but on the other hand Oliver (1997) argues that e-retailing is only helping the organisation to a precise degree. 4.1.5 Question five: What could be the main reason for preference of opting for eretailing services for shopping over physical shop? Manager one [Tesco]: If I myself have to opt for the e-retailing services I will opt for it because it saves time. Manager two [Tesco]: A wide range of choices attracts customers to shop online. Manager three [Sainsburys] Convenience, time effective, easiness, and wide range of choices are some of the reasons and each depend of the perception of the individuals but if one has to pick only one out of it than personal convenience. Discussion: The literature review also indicated that convenience, wide range of choices, time factor and ease are some of the factors that emerge as reasons for preferring online shopping on physical shopping. Srinivasan (2000) argued on time consumption, Riechheld (1999) stressed on wide range of choices and McGoldrick (2002) described convenience as a prime reason to shop online.

4.2 Questionnaire analysis:

Demographic description: A) Age

B) Gender

C) Education

4.2.1. Which of the following is the biggest reason for online shopping?

Analysis: The previous researches have indicated all of the above variables are reasons for online shopping as the study of Srinivasan (2000) considered Time as crucial reason for

online shopping, and in the findings we have majority of respondents considering time as vital factor. Whereas Riechheld (1999) believes that wide range of choices is a significant factor to shop online but research of McGoldrick (2002) considers convenience has prime reason and in our findings all three are being answered by respondents which means that earlier researchers have right notion about these reasons.
4.2.2. Do you think that online shopping is cost effective?

Analysis: Smith (2000) research indicated that customers take online shopping as most effective way to buy things because it sames them time, energy, and tranportation cost and this is being tested with our research and findings are similar to the views explained by smith. 67% people agree that online shopping is cost effective.

4.2.3. How often are you satisfied with the online shopping?

Analysis: The majority of respondents are satisfied with the online shopping which means that they trust the e-services. The e-satisfaction increases due to trust of the customers as per statement of Grummerous et al., (2005) is correct as our findings show that more than 50% people are happy and satisfied with the patterns of online shopping. 4.2.4. Do you feel online transactions are secured?

Analysis:

The conceptual framework of Riechheld (2000) strongly argued that customers are sure about the services and with increase in their understanding, there are more chances of increase in the utilization of the services. The findings of the present study also indicate that most of the customers are sure that it is safe therefore they are using it. 4.2.5. Do you think that e-retail services are need by everyone?

Analysis: Srinivasan (2000) emphasised that with technological advancement, e-retailing services has gained immense popularity and most of the daily population that come across the retailing view it as a need. The feedback from the respondents are alike the srinivasans views about eretailing services.

4.2.6. With this companys e-retailing services, what is your experience?

Analysis: Comparing the level of satisfaction about Tesco and Sainsburys, it can be said that most of the customers are satisfied with the e-retailing services as they have experienced it in satisfactory mode. The research piece of Reichheld (1997) proposed that customers who are satisfied with the e-retailing services of company do not experiment with others so they become loyal to the organisation. Our findings suggest that e-retailing services have vital part in the satisfaction of the customers. 4.2.7. Do you think that e-satisfaction is linked with e-loyalty?

Analysis: Though the model of Anderson (2000) and the previous researches of Oliver (1997) and Srinivasan (2000) viewed that e-satisfaction leads to e-loyalty therefore they are equal but in our findings these two are not always equal but sometime the variables can be equal. 4.2.8. Do you find e-retailing services of this company as a reason for your overall satisfaction?

Analysis: Though Tesco has more assurance as compare to Sainsburys but in both cases it is not more than 50% which means that e-retailing is not the only reason that is contributing to the overall satisfaction of the customers about these companies but there are some other core competencies too. Considering the research work of Meyers and Eagle (1982) technology

is essential factor for attracting the customers whereas the price variation was identified by the Reichheld (1996) to increase market share.
4.2.9. Is e-retailing services offered by this company is building your confidence and trust in the company more?

Analysis: Oliver (1997) predicted that the trust of the customer with increase more with positive image formed by the company through various ways, one of these ways are the effective and efficient e-retailing services and in the findings we have noticed that e-retailing services is increasing the confidence of the customers one step more but it is also clear that these companies are using the e-retailing services as one tool but alone e-retailing services is not their only representative component as there are other factors too that are building consumers trust. 4.2.10. What is your overall satisfaction about this Company?

Analysis: Only 30 to 35% respondents view that e-retailing services are the factor that has a strong impact on the overall customers satisfaction so in the context of literature Smith (2000) and Reichheld (2000) both have been incorrect that e-retailing is the vital factor

to influence the consumers satisfaction in entire manner because it is just the one factor out of many factors prevailing in the environment.

4.3 Z-Test: In this part of chapter, the hypotheses are tested by means of z-test to check that our assumed hypotheses are acceptable or it can be rejected. The sample size of population is 30 and critical value for the z-test is 1.96, any value above 1.96 will reject the assumed hypotheses. Hypothesis#1 H0: 44% of population view e-satisfaction is equal to e-loyalty H1: 44% of population do not view e-satisfaction is equal to e-loyalty Result: Rejected Analysis: On the basis of responses for question seven, Z-test is applied for one subset of the population. Total valid responses (n)(po) (n)(1 - po) Can the one-population proportion test be applied? 30 16.8 13.2 Yes

Alpha p` po Z

0.05 0.43 0.44 2.2135

Significance Level Critical value Actual %

95% 1.96 43

Conclusion:

For the question number 7, the evidence is not sufficient that 44% of the consumers view that e-satisfaction is equal to e-loyalty. Hypothesis#2 H0: 60% of population consider that e-retailing is the reason for overall satisfaction about the organisations. H1: 60% of population do not consider that e-retailing is the reason for overall satisfaction about the organisations. Result: Rejected Analysis: Based on the responses of question eight, on one subset of the population Z-test is applied. Total valid responses (n)(po) (n)(1 - po) Can the one-population proportion test be applied? 30 12 18 Yes

Alpha p` po Z

0.05 0.50 0.60 2.437

Significance Level Critical value Actual %

95% 1.96 50

Conclusion: The sample set of the population considered in this research do not provide the enough evidence to conclude that 60% of the consumers view that e-retailing contributes towards the overall satisfaction of the customers.

4.4 Summary: The analysis and discussion made of the findings of the research along with the z-test indicate that e-loyalty is not equal to e-satisfaction. Furthermore, e-retailing is not the only factor that is resulting in the overall satisfaction of the consumers. We also find through primary investigation that time, convenience, ease of access, and wide range of the products and services are reasons for the increase in the usage of e-retailing services but for every customer the reason of opting for the e-retail services differ from the other person.

Chapter 5: Conclusion 5.0 Introduction: This chapter is to sum up the research and answer the research question. The research questions are answered on the basis of the comparison between the primary research conducted during the present investigation and the secondary data gathered through various reliable sources. It also discuss about the limitations of the research and the future recommendations for the researchers and marketers. 5.1 Conclusion: The present research was carried out to attain the three defined objectives at the start of the research so that the aim of the research can be accomplished. With the help of the literature review most of the issues related to the topic was clarified and on the basis of past literature, research method was designed to execute the research process. Our most prime objective was to identify the reasons that are influencing the customers satisfaction. The findings of the research and the previous empirical researches and models explain that personal conveniences, time, huge choices available for the customers and offers from the retailers are vital components. As we have seen Time is a factor identified by Srinivasan (2000) that will influence the behaviour of consumer to opt for the e-retailing services. The views of Riechheld (1999) varies from Srinivasan as he suggests that wide range of choices is what urges customers to shop online but McGoldrick (2002) believes convenience is the main point that is provided by the e-retailing services that has its strong impact on the consumers satisfaction. But our findings suggest that overall satisfaction is not only fulfilled by the e-retailing services. The primary research executed in the two branches of Tesco and one branch of Sainsburys revealed that e-satisfaction is not equal to e-loyalty. The findings are tested through z-test and it is clear that neither the two variables are equal nor e-satisfaction has to do anything with the overall satisfaction of the consumers. The overall satisfaction of the customer is linked with different types of variables. E-retailing services is one of the many factors but it is incorrect to assume that overall satisfaction of the customer will increase due to the provision of the e-retailing services and similarly, the overall retailing services of the customers will not affect in negative manner if there is no provision of e-retailing services. In other words, e-retailing services are a tool to cope up with the environment and increase the brand image.

This can be concluded that the satisfaction of the customer varies from person to person and therefore so does their loyalty towards particular services or brand. Trust is the essential factor that develops e-satisfaction resulting in e-loyalty but the loyalty of the customer cannot be guaranteed for long as it can change according to the personal preferences. This is proven for the current case study through means of Z-test and our findings have shown that for the selected organisation, the e-retailing services are not the only components that have an impact on the overall satisfaction of the customers. The research also shows that retail sector is using technological advancement as a method of gaining competitive advantage in the market. Since the market is changing continuously therefore it is essential for the retailers to develop the strategies and plans to cope up with the environment and e-retailing is one of the needs that are generated by the environment. Organisation view electronic medium as quick way to reach its targeted population and they have the opportunity to display as many items on the internet as they much they can, but in physical retailing organisations have difficulty to do so. At the same time customers also benefit from the e-retailing services as it saves them time, it is more convenient and they have a large variety to chose from so eretailing services is beneficial for both parties. In the present future e-retailing services are playing definite part for the business and customers and there is huge possibility that e-retailing will play more vital and significant role in shaping the upcoming future of the retailing industry. 5.2 Limitation of the research study:
This research study is subject to limit therefore there is a further scope for the future researchers to work out on it. These limitations are in actual the points that future researchers need to strategies so that more comprehensive results are attained. The followings are the limitations of this research: The sample size is not a big one which means the outcomes of this research cannot be generalized to the entire organisations existing in the markets of the United Kingdom. Researcher only took two of the retail chains in the United Kingdom and out of those two organisations total three units are undertaken for the study purpose. This means that two outlets of Tesco and one of Sainsburys which create a huge probability of lacking gernalizability as there are more units that altogether three operating in the one locality of the UK so there is a possibility that the findings of these three may even not match with the findings of other outlets of same chain. If more units of the same chosen organisations were included, more interviews and more questionnaire survey could have been done which means

more chances of attaining the results matching the actual feelings and views prevailing in the market. Another limitation is linked with the first limitation of the study, in fact due to the second limitation; the first one could not have done in the comprehensive manner. Time is crucial factor for the researcher. It has occurred as the limitation for the present investigation because there was not enough time to carry out the research in more depth. If there was more time, there was huge possibility that more units and superstores could have been included in this research. The shortage of time lead also restricted the researcher to increase the sample size more because in the early stage the sample size was 50 but as there was not much time to carry out the investigation in more detail so the sample size was reduced to 30. The limitation of the study includes the selection of the participants in the unsequential manner. The participants who were interviewed were only being interviewed for twenty minutes so there was not much chance for the researcher to ask questions in detail and the focus group interviews were not included in the research process. Though interviews were face to face but if focus group interview was arranged, more details and discussions on cross questioning the participants would have been done. Our research was mostly focusing on the qualitative aspect of the research which made it difficult for the researcher to quantify the qualitative findings. Those questions that generated the feedback in the qualitative mode were not possible to quantify in the way researcher would have wanted to. Research approach was inductive therefore data was gathered from various sources but all the data could not be used in the research. The researcher had immense difficulty in piling, sorting and selecting the data as all the data seemed worth considering but we had to exclude some of the models in literature review, some of the questions and information were not included which may have contributed more than current data. Though inclusion was limited but some of the brief indications of those data are included in different parts of this dissertation. The sources to gather data requires proper funding but in this research, the researcher was short on the funding therefore could not explore the research in more detailed manner as there was not a sufficient fund to buy some of the online journals that required payments. The tight budget of the researcher is one of the limitations to take the present research one step further.

5.3 Answers to research Questions: There is a connection between the e-satisfaction and e-loyalty but it is not so strong that these two variables are considered to be equal to each other. As far the question stands

that there exist a relationship between these two variables, yes there is a correlation because e-loyalty is in actual the result of e-satisfaction. By exploring the details through various models included in this research and the primary findings of the research, it has been confirmed that trust is the main component which increase the satisfaction on the customers and satisfaction attained from the services leads to generate the loyalty in the people who undertake it. The study and findings also indicated that the loyalty of the customers change with the tools and techniques modification as per the statement of Oliver (1997). Ideally, it is established on the basis of findings that individual factors like personal interest, perception etc are some of the driving forces for developing the e-loyalty in a strong mode. The other question was about the overall satisfaction of the consumers being affected by the services of e-retailing is answer through the combination of the present findings and the previous empirical researches. Our findings suggest that e-retailing is a tool, techniques, plan and a strategy developed by the markets and retailers to ensure that they survive the pressure exerted by the environment. The concept of Darwinism as mentioned earlier survival of the fittest makes business think and respond effectively to the changes required. In that sense, it looks that e-retailing is the factor to influence the behaviour of the consumer but only in the broader context because if we narrowed the lines to define the impact on the overall satisfaction of the consumers than eretailing is not the most vital factor. It is not responsible to alter the overall perception of customers not the only factor to make overall satisfaction of the consumer result in. there are other factors like preferences, taste, convenience, brands etc assist organisation to develop copping up strategies so that the overall satisfaction of the consumers is attained. The views of experts, opinions of the sample size, managements literature and the ztest conducted by the researcher to investigate the validity of the assumption prove that e-retailing has its impact on the consumers behaviour but by no means e-retailing services leads to overall satisfaction of the customers.

5.4 Future Recommendations: This section is to give suggestions for the future researchers to consider when opting for the research in this topic. These are in actual those limitations that the present

researcher could not include in the study at hand due to shortage of some of the resources. The future researchers should include other retail chains also to explore the e-retailing system vested in it to further elaborate the link between consumers satisfaction and new retailing trends. Researchers should expand the sample size more in order to generalize the results more. The sample size of the current study is not sufficient enough to generalize its results to the overall e-retailing services operating in the United Kingdom. The researchers should include other models in the literature review to examine more in depth the connection among e-satisfaction, e-loyalty, and e-retailing. The model of Ribbink (2004) and model of Semejn (2005) would help to explore the study more in detail. The researchers in future should also examine the relationship between variable from the marketing management relationship in the dynamics, this will show the managements perspective also about the chosen variables. Future researchers need to used environmental scanning tools to investigate the impact of e-retailing services on the organisation and how the environmental scanning can be used effectively to develop approaches that leads to increase in the overall satisfaction of the customers. The managers should be discussed in more detail by the future researches along with the other professionals and experts so that more practical approach is carried out and more professional view points are included in the future research study.

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Appendix 1:

Interview Questions:

Part A: Demographic Description: What is your age? What is your qualification? How many years of experience you have?

Part B: Question one: Is e-retailing services a core competency for organisation to gain competitive edge? Question two: Is e-retailing a tool to enhance the consumers satisfaction Question three: Do you think that there is a strong link between the e-satisfaction and eloyalty? Question four: Do you think that e-retailing has to do with the overall satisfaction of customer? Question five: What could be the main reason for preference of e-retailing services over physical retailing?

Appendix 2:

Demographic Information Age (Please Tick your age Group) 18-24 25-31 32-38 39-45 46 or above Please Tick applicable gender Male Female Education (Please Tick your Education Group) Level O Level A Graduation Masters
Q1. Which of the following is the biggest reason for online shopping? Convenience Time factor Wide range of choices Ease and relaxation factor Q2. Do you think that online shopping is cost effective? Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

Q3. How often are you satisfied with the online shopping? Always Sometimes Not sure Never

Q4. Do you feel online transactions are secured? Yes Not sure No

Q5. Do you think that e-retail services are need by everyone? Yes Not sure No

Q6. With this companys e-retailing services, what is your experience? Very Satisfied Satisfied Less Satisfied Not Satisfied Disappointed

Q7. Do you think that e-satisfaction is linked with e-loyalty? Always Sometimes Not sure Never

Q8. Do you find e-retailing services of this company as a reason for your overall satisfaction? Yes Not sure No Q9. Is e-retailing services offered by this company is building your confidence and trust in the company more?

Yes Not sure No Q10. What is your overall satisfaction about this Company? Very Satisfied Satisfied Less Satisfied Not Satisfied Disappointed Thank you for your cooperation~

Appendix 3
One sample t-Test for population mean
normal distribution or the sample size is large.

Statistical Concepts

Step 0. Conditions for the one-sample t-test to be valid for testing one population mean: Data follows a

Step 1. Set up the hypotheses as one of:

One-sided

One-sided

Two-sided

Step 2. Decide on the significance level, Step 3. Compute the value of the test statistic with the one sample t-test:

Step 4. Find the appropriate critical values for the tests using the t-table. Write down clearly the rejection region for the problem. Alternatively, compute the p-value if you are using the p-value approach. Step 5. Check to see if the value of the test statistic falls in the rejection region. If it does, then reject Ho (and conclude Ha). If it does not fall in the rejection region, do not reject Ho. Alternatively, compare the p-value to if you are using the p-value approach. If p-value < = , reject Ho (and conclude Ha). If the p-value > , do not reject Ho. Step 6. State the conclusion in words.

Z-Test for one population proportion

Using the same concept as above, z-test for one population proportion is applied as follows: Null hypothesis: H0: p = p0 Test statistic:

z=

p p0 . p0 (1 p0 ) / n

Ha p =! p0 p > p0 p < p0

p-value 2P(Z >= |z|) P(Z >= z) P(Z <= z)

Rejection region |z| >= za/2 z >= za z <= - za

The tests are valid if np0 >= 10 and n( 1- p0) >= 10.

Appendix 4