THE EFFECTS OF RETAIL FORMAT CHARACTERISTICS ON E-LOYALTY

With the high costs of attracting new customers on the Internet, the profitability of an e-retailer is realized only during later purchases. Fostering loyalty among patrons is thus necessary for the success of e-retailers. This is more so because repeat purchases are not the only behavioral trait of the loyal customer—he also recommends his favorite e-retailers to potential buyers. This calls for the investigation of e-loyalty predictors that lend themselves easily to managerial strategy. Survey data of an international sample of e-shoppers gathered online was used for analysis. Results show that traditionally studied retail format characteristics for consumer choice of retailers as presented in Shopping Preference Theory are significant predictors of e-loyalty. We have examined aesthetic attractiveness of the web site, shopping convenience, promptness of service and product selection and affirm their positive effect on e-loyalty. Results show that among them, product selection is most important in raising e-loyalty. The hypothesized positive effects of promptness of service and product selection on shopping convenience were also supported in the study.