Abstract
Perhaps no innovation in history has affected marketing management as pervasively as has the advent of e-commerce. This revolutionary new channel has required businesses to acquire an entirely new set of skills and approaches to promotion, pricing, and distribution. The necessity for e-commerce website operators to more deeply understand consumer behavior when engaged in e-commerce has become a central and crucial factor in website success or failure. As predicted nearly 20 years ago, travel bookings have moved almost entirely to the World Wide Web (WWW). For the past 12 years, data have been collected concerning traveler’s preferences, concerns, and perceptions of airline websites in particular. This research reviews and comments on the evolution of those sites and consumer perceptions of efficiency, ease of use, and usefulness. The results of this study are intended to guide airlines in their pursuit of customer satisfaction and increased profits.
Highlights
With approximately 2,912,460,537 Internet users worldwide as of June 11, 2014 and usage growth of 566.4% worldwide since 2000 (Miniwatts Marketing Group, 2014), there is no question as to the importance of the Internet to retail business
Highest penetration occurred in Europe at 89.9% followed by Oceania/ Australia at 89.62% and North America at 63.2%
It would appear that because all have improved, consumers fail to perceive those changes in side by side comparisons
Summary
With approximately 2,912,460,537 Internet users worldwide as of June 11, 2014 and usage growth of 566.4% worldwide since 2000 (Miniwatts Marketing Group, 2014), there is no question as to the importance of the Internet to retail business. It is estimated that more than three billion users will exist before the end of 2014. The world wide penetration of 34.3% is more than considerable. Highest penetration occurred in Europe at 89.9% followed by Oceania/ Australia at 89.62% and North America at 63.2%. Predictions were that online travel sales would double in three years and those revenues did grow from US$38 billion in 2006 to US$80 billion in 2007 (Elkin, 2008). Elkin’s (2008) prediction of revenues from online airline reservations of US$32.8 billion in 2007 have been greatly exceeded in an industry where sales volume reached approximately US$700 billion in 2011 (First Research, Inc.) and approximately 87% was conducted online (Mamaghani, 2010). Online purchases of airline travel reached US$85.7 billion in 2014 (International Air Transport Association [IATA], 2014)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
