Indian Journal of Science and Technology

Abstract

Objectives: This research aims to develop a multi-criteria based evaluation and subsequent prioritization of online retail patronage attributes of Indian consumers for improving the performance of the online stores. Methods/Statistical Analysis: The relative importance and ranking of online retail patronage intentions of Indian customers were done through a literature review, discussion with experts, and the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) approach. In all, 16 e-retail attributes were identified and further divided into five-factor categories. Then their prioritization was done using AHP approach in the context of the Indian e-retailing industry to overcome the drawbacks of perception based evaluation measures. Findings: The empirical results suggest that Indian customers place a very high importance on outcome quality followed by service recovery. The results of the study support the notion that Indian consumers are more utilitarian and are more apprehensive about the risks of online transaction in the context of Indian culture which is predominantly skewed towards uncertainty avoidance. As online retail store managers cannot allocate equal amounts of efforts and resources to each individual online store attributes due to the limitation of resources, the findings of this study will help online retail managers in providing insights into patronizing intentions of Indian customers towards online store attributes. The results of the study also offer Indian retail managers in effective utilization of scarce resources in developing online stores considering the Indian culture and context. Application/Improvements: The results will help managers to focus and improve the performance of the online stores based on relative importance and patronage intentions of Indian customers.

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction, E-Retailing Industry, Online Retail, Patronage Intention, Store Selection