Abstract
Online groceries or e-groceries were highlighted as one of the effective means to avoid personal contacts and maintain social distance during the Covid-19 Pandemic. Thus, this paper focuses on the insight on the impact of e-service quality dimensions and customer satisfaction of e-groceries with the role of customer trust as a mediating variable during the epidemic. A quantitative approach has been adopted where the empirical data gathered from 300 e-grocery shoppers in Western province, Sri Lanka while adopting the multi-stage sampling technique. A field survey was conducted during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic during March-June 2020. Regression analysis was the main analysis method whereas the Barron and Kenny mediator analysis and Sobel test were adopted for mediation impact. Findings highlight, e-service quality dimensions strongly impact the customer satisfaction of e-groceries during the Pandemic whereas customer trust partially mediates the e-service quality and customer satisfaction of e-groceries. Implications focused on; (a) e-grocery service providers have to distinct on revamp of customer trust parameters, (b) e-service quality dimensions to enhance the customer satisfaction, customer trust, and (c) attract more customers for e-grocery shopping.
Highlights
The e-grocery or Online grocery is one of the significant segments within e-commerce
With the dawn of the Covid-19 outbreak, Sri Lankan e-groceries have flowed and it becomes an opportunity for egrocers and customers have encouraged online purchasing as an alternative to the physical store. egroceries are a rising movement for marketers to promote their products in a wide geographical area and highlight as the most effective way to avoid personal contacts and keep social distancing
Research questions and have been developed as, (a) What kind of an impact exists with eservice quality dimensions on customer satisfaction of e- groceries and (b) What kind of an impact is explored in customer trust as a mediator between e-service quality dimensions and customer satisfaction of e-groceries
Summary
The e-grocery or Online grocery is one of the significant segments within e-commerce. According to the Department of Census and Statistics, the internet penetration rate of Sri Lanka is stood at 47% in January (2020) and internet usage has been growing in the past years, by enhancing the use of the internet for shopping goods and services simultaneously. With the surge of e-groceries, customers are seeking service quality through e-groceries same as the physical grocery store. In this context, electronic service quality has emerged as an area of strategic importance. As e-groceries have grown during the outbreak, e-service quality has to turn out to be an increasing factor to survive within the online grocery businesses
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