AN EMPIRICAL STUDY ON FACTORS INFLUENCING CONSUMER LOYALTY TOWARDS E-COMMERCE

Abstract

E-commerce has evolved very fast and this has led to deviations on the consumers’ behavior hence leading to the importance of consumer loyalty within the e-commerce business. The article aims to understand the various factors that help to determine customers’ loyalty towards e-tailing websites. The study uses both quantitative and qualitative method to consider factors such as website quality, perceived value, trust, convenience, customization factors, and customer satisfaction. A sample of 500 respondents was surveyed through structured questionnaires across different demographic strata allowing for a broad view of consumers’ needs and perceptions. The studies show that trust and perceived web quality are the two most important antecedents but trust is more important as it influences consumers’ consecutive purchase behavior. In assessing the possibility of attaining a high level of buyer’s loyalty, perceived value, price, the quality of products, and promotional offers all contribute to the general efforts being made. Accessibility also comes out clearly, it is around the application, ease in making payments, and how quickly delivery is processed. Personalization is also underlined as a crucial element of the flows as customized recommendation and targeted promotions are valuable for the customer. However, the study reveals that there are emergent negative factors that may oppose loyalty; for instance, data security issues and another problem of irregular service quality. To mitigate these concerns, the research outlines the following implementation strategies: increasing security systems’ efficiency and reliability. The findings proposed here have important implications for e-tailing firms looking to foster and maintain customer loyalty in the context of rapidly growing online competition.