E-commerce Arena Research Articles

Case study on synergistic development strategy of cross-border e-commerce and logistics: An empirically model estimation.

This study investigates the dynamic relationship between cross-border e-commerce and logistics co-development strategies within the context of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China. The primary objective is to formulate an empirical model capable of estimating the utility and flexibility of cross-border e-commerce logistics, specifically focusing on its role in achieving competitive advantage for SMEs. The research employs a comprehensive approach, considering various factors that influence the formulation and implementation of cross-border e-commerce logistics strategies. Factors such as scale, quality, potential, and infrastructure are scrutinized to provide a nuanced understanding of the dynamic interplay. Real-world data is analyzed using advanced statistical techniques to derive meaningful insights. The data of CBEC and logistics planning in Guangdong from 2013 to 2018 was used as a case example to demonstrate its and flexibility and usefulness of empirically proposed model estimation and develop a holistic indicator system for the evaluation of the synergistic development of CBEC and logistics. This research focus on the modelling of the CBEC for the synergistic effect analysis and evaluate the usefulness and flexibility of CBEC to achieve competitive advantage. The study aims to uncover insights into the most effective approaches for Chinese SMEs in navigating the landscape of cross-border e-commerce. By examining the results derived from the empirical model, the research sheds light on the impact of cross-border e-commerce logistics on competitive advantage. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of how SMEs can strategically position themselves in the cross-border e-commerce arena. Through the analysis of real-world data and the application of advanced statistical methods, this research offers valuable insights for Chinese SMEs. The insights generated from the study not only illuminate the intricacies of cross-border e-commerce logistics but also provide practical recommendations to reduce associated costs. Ultimately, the study aims to equip SMEs with the knowledge necessary to thrive in the evolving landscape of cross-border e-commerce.

Predicting Purchasing Probability of E-Commerce Customers

Purpose: Understanding consumer behavior and anticipating their purchase likelihood is crucial for businesses to flourish in today’s competitive e-commerce market.
 Methodology: This paper describes a data- driven technique for predicting the possibility of e-commerce clients completing a purchase. The research begins with a thorough assessment of the current literature, emphasizing the importance of consumer behavior prediction in the e-commerce arena and explaining the difficulties associated with effectively anticipating purchase probability.
 Findings: The outcomes of this study provide a substantial contribution to the e-commerce business by giving concrete ideas for increasing customer interaction, optimizing marketing efforts, and tailoring personalized experiences.
 Unique contributor to theory, policy and practice: Based on this data research, people prefer mobile applications over websites for their online purchase needs due to search ability, accessibility, and other aspects.

THE ROLE OF PRODUCT INFORMATION IN E-COMMERCE: A CONSUMER-CENTRIC ANALYSIS IN THE MARKETING 5.0 ERA

Shopee has successfully positioned itself as a key e-commerce platform in Indonesia, with a significant and growing number of users. It is worth mentioning that a considerable proportion of Shopee's customer base comprises students from Institut Teknologi dan Bisnis Asia Malang. The phenomenon of young students actively engaging in internet buying is widely acknowledged. The primary objective of this research is to examine the influence of information quality on decision-making processes related to online purchases, specifically focusing on the platform of Shopee. The study utilised qualitative research methodologies, specifically interviews and document analysis, to investigate a sample of 10 students enrolled in the Faculty of Economics and Business at the Institute of Asia Malang. The findings of the study indicate that there are four primary determinants that exert an influence on consumers' decision-making process while engaging in online purchases on the Shopee platform. These elements include the ratings assigned to the stores, the descriptions provided for the products, the reviews received by the stores, and the prices associated with the products. The value of high-quality information in the e-commerce arena is underscored by its potential to facilitate educated purchasing decisions.

E-service quality and customer loyalty in the e-commerce market, South West, Nigeria: Post-COVID-19

In today’s fiercely competitive e-commerce arena, online service providers are compelled to focus on improving quality service delivery to remain competitive. The e-commerce market in Nigeria has experienced low patronage due to factors such as establishing cost, accessibility, credit card threat, information privacy, data security, and network reliability. Thus, the study explored the impact of quality service delivery on customer loyalty. A survey research design was used to seek information about the phenomenon of interest from the sampled respondents through an online platform, mobile device, and mail. The study used copies of the questionnaire as an instrument to gather data from 385 customers of Jumia and Konga who are engaged in e-business service delivery. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 25. The results indicated that the computed t values and the associated significant probabilities of responsiveness, privacy, fulfillment, compensation, insistence action by customers, switching restraint by customers, repeat purchase by customers, customer satisfaction and customers loyalty were 16.08 (P < 0.001), 26.33 (P < 0.001), 12.97 (P < 0.001), 6.75 (P < 0.001), 10.60 (P < 0.001), 7.35 (P < 0.001), 15.75 (P < 0.001), 13.74 (P < 0.001), and 11.92 (P < 0.001), respectively. Given the foregoing, it is evident that respondents perceive a firm’s responsiveness, privacy, and compensation to be significant at the ninety-nine percent confidence level. Furthermore, insistence action by customers, switching restraint by customers, repeat purchase by customers, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty are perceived to be significant at the ninety-nine percent confidence level.

Integration of Web Analytics Into Graduate Medical Education: Usability Study.

BackgroundWeb analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis, and reporting of website and web application usage data. While common in the e-commerce arena, web analytics is underutilized in graduate medical education (GME).ObjectiveThe University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Department of Surgery website was revamped with input from in-house surgeons in August 2017. This study investigated the use of web analytics to gauge the impact of our department’s website redesign project.MethodsGoogle Analytics software was used to measure website performance before and after implementation of the new website. Eight-month matched periods were compared. Factors tracked included total users, new users, total sessions, sessions per user, pages per session, average session duration, total page views, and bounce rate (the percentage of visitors who visit a site and then leave [ie, bounce] without continuing to another page on the same site).ResultsAnalysis using a nonpaired Student t test demonstrated a statistically significant increase for total page views (before vs after: 33,065 vs 81,852; P<.001) and decrease for bounce rate (before vs after: 50.70% vs 0.23%; P<.001). Total users, new users, total sessions, sessions per user, and pages per session showed improvement. The average session duration was unchanged. Subgroup analysis showed that after the main page, the next 3 most frequently visited pages were related to GME programs in our department.ConclusionsWeb analytics is a practical measure of a website’s efficacy. Our data suggest that a modern website significantly improves user engagement. An up-to-date website is essential for contemporary GME recruitment, will likely enhance engagement of residency applicants with GME programs, and warrants further investigation.

A real-world online signature verification system based on correlation algorithm

Handwriting signature is one of features of the biometric identification and authentication, which is used to verify or authenticate a 'signer' and the document signed. US law (the electronic signatures (E-Sign) in Global and National Commerce Act) and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Model Law on Electronic Commerce already grant electronic signatures legal validity equivalent to traditional hand-written counterparts. The intention of those laws is to cut costs while providing more stringent security, especially in the emerging e-commerce arena. In this paper, we (a) describe fundamentals and the current status of electronic signatures in detail. (b) Propose an online handwriting signature verification algorithm by using four online elements as the verification features (they are X axle, Y axle, pressure and velocity (time). Correlation algorithm is used to test and verify signatures. (c) Develop a real world application system with the online electronic signature.

Will You Still Trust Me Tomorrow? Lessons Learnt in Maintaining Trust for SME, B2C E-commerce

The introduction of e-commerce holds substantial potential for marketing and selling products and services online while also introducing a plethora of risks and concerns for consumers. In the context of business-to-consumer (B2C) electronic commerce (e-commerce), the consumer compares not only product and pricing alternatives, but also the risks of conducting the transaction online. Maintaining trust in a risk ridden environment provids challenges for many online businesses. E-commerce, although growing in usage, is also experiencing a growing hostility from non-users and from previous users who have determined not to return. Small to medium enterprise (SMEs) who are starting in the e-commerce arena are at a disadvantage in presenting a trustworthy venture not having the reputation, finances or infrastructure to create an online business that exudes safety, security and trust. The SME must explore methods that will assist them in surviving the competitive e-commerce market place. This paper will explore SMEs that have developed start-up Internet based e-commerce businesses in Australia and the methods they have engaged to keep trust and loyalty. It concludes that trust, once gained, is very fragile requiring constant vigilance, essential to overcome the risks that will sustain trust and loyalty in clients. In conclusion this paper offers guidelines for new B2C e-commerce SMEs to assist in reducing security and business risks.

Groupons Growth And Globalization Strategy: Structural And Technological Implications Of International Markets

Groupon is the fastest growing company in the daily deal social e-commerce arena. For this reason, their growth and globalization strategy is of particular interest to any researcher or investor interested in understanding this industry and its potential future growth and development. In this first follow-up article on mergers and acquisitions as Groupons primary growth and globalization strategy, the researchers discuss the structural and technological implications of expanding into developing international markets. The research method utilized in this article was a case study. In a previous article, the researchers evaluated Groupons success in utilizing M&amp;As as its growth and globalization strategy, by applying Ruess and Voelpels (2012) Post Merger Integration (PMI) Scorecard. The factors discussed under the PMI Scorecard included strategic, structural, personnel, cultural and stakeholder integration. In this article, the researchers take an in-depth look at structural and technological implications of acquisitions made by Groupon in developing international markets.A well-developed transport and communications infrastructure network is a pre-requisite for the access of less-developed communities to core economic activities and services (Schwab, Sala-i-Martin &amp; Greenhill, 2011). Effective economies therefore depend on sufficient and uninterrupted electricity supply that would enable unimpeded business functioning. The ability to adopt existing technologies, specifically information and communication technologies (ICTs) is indicative of a countrys level of technological readiness. In countries with limited access to the Internet, mobile broadband, smartphones and social media (like Facebook), Groupon has not managed to build an extensive database of customers. Although they may have reached a particular level of customer saturation in the USA, it cannot be argued that they have succeeded in building the same extensive network of customers in other markets, which calls into question the spending on acquisitions in other markets in order to expand their global reach.

Natural intelligence applications for business intelligence in online and catalogue retailing firms: a case study

The rapid proliferation of business intelligence (BI) applications and customer relationship management (CRM) over the past decades has created many opportunities for natural intelligence theory to be used in business applications. The theory of natural intelligence can help to explain some of the strategies in the e-commerce arena. Indeed, companies have been using herd behaviour and swarm applications of natural intelligence to solve complex business operation problems. The sudden and unexpected failure and liquidation of one of the largest catalogue sales companies in the USA presents an opportunity for a unique case study for natural intelligence (NI) applications in retailing. This paper uses the experiences of three separate Fingerhut Companies (now Bluestem Brands) to validate the NI and BI concepts. For nearly two decades the authors have had the rare opportunity to interview executives and other representatives of critical members of the Fingerhut community. The paper ends with lessons learned and discussions of new insights.

Information & Communication Technology Law

A web address usually begins www. This prefix embodies an important concept; that Internet is a world wide application. It involves international protocols and conventions as well as state and national legislation. A Cyberlaw student needs to be aware of online jurisdiction rules that apply to local and cross border transactions. Lapses in choice of law and forum in contracting can land an e-commerce vendor in a foreign jurisdiction that may be outside of the shores of the India. The factors that are driving Internet applications include the expanding global communication networks, the expansion of global online markets, and the emerging of business models that provide access to the global market. Business strategies have evolved from the bricks and mortar retail establishments, and catalog outlets into electronic business transactions that run the full cycle from procurement of raw materials, to processing and distribution of manufactured goods, to order fulfillment systems and international payment processes via electronic funds transfer systems. In addition to the international sale of goods, there is a blossoming of electronic services that were previously only available through hard line links to service providers. Internet retailing, banking, and data exchange now flow over computer grids and satellite systems. Deals are closed not with a handshake, but with an exchange of private keys. Internal business communications are conducted over networks connecting company employees to homes and offices worldwide. Electronic mail, file transfer, image senders, video-conferencing and other workflow are accomplished between remote sites that need to be secure. Cyberspace is the complete value chain that links suppliers, producers, retailers, and customers. Companies that do not plan to enter the e-Commerce arena themselves, still have to deal with clients and customers whose only presence will be in the form of full-service electronic storefronts. These companies will have to adjust their strategic plan to include electronic media in their businesses. Understanding the novel legal issues that arise in relation to, the Internet, electronic commerce and on-line services, as well as the laws and jurisdictional matters that apply to e-commerce applications, will be the instrument of success in positioning a business in the electronic marketplace. Any enterprise that attracts as much traffic and value as does the electronic commerce enterprise, seldom survives in a Laissez-faire environment. This new economic reality is no different. Government intervention in this market exists on every level. From regulating the hours of a cyber-cafe to restrictions on access and content, to international protocol agreements; all levels of government are leaving an imprint on commercial matters in the electronic markets. In the legal market a new classification is emerging: the “Internet Attorney”. This practice area is a crossover specialization that integrates the traditional Intellectual Property practice subjects of Patent, Trademark and Copyright Law with the Litigation practice subjects of Domestic and International Business Law. This practice area incorporates all of the practical applications of doing business online. The legal and regulatory issues of the Internet Law practice area involve the migration of businesses to the electronic storefront, the protection of industrial property, transnational licensing, strategic partnering, of cross border transactions, and electronic financial services. Components of the practice also include consideration of issues of cyber-crime and privacy. In short, the practice of law has embraced the global electronic marketplace. The Cyberlaw program concentration in management of rights and obligations and emerging legal issues in cyberspace provides a new curriculum for training the Internet Attorney. This is a first course in Internet law. You’ll learn the essentials of computer and network technologies, and how those technologies are challenging settled legal understandings. The sources of Internet law are many, from intellectual property to tort to the First Amendment, but by the end of the course, you should be able to sort through the legal complexities in any given case to identify what’s really at stake. Throughout the semester, we’ll tie the doctrines together with four themes: How regulation changes when it’s carried out by computers, rather than by people. Whether going online increases or decreases government control. The new kinds of power possessed by online intermediaries. The extraordinary level of innovation and creativity the Internet has unleashed.

Toward an Ethical Understanding of the Controversial Technology of Online Reverse Auctions

B2B online reverse auctions technology (ORAs) emerged as a popular tool for large buying firms in the late 1990s. However, its growing use has been accompanied by a corresponding increase in unethical behaviors to a point that it has been described as the technology that has triggered more ethical concerns in the e-commerce arena than in any other segment of activity. Our findings first indicate that the establishment of formal ethical criteria based on the restrictive interpretation of ethics as honesty is not enough to resolve the ethical issues that surround the introduction of a technology because it ignores the ethical values shared by most actors in the sector in terms of fairness. We show the extent to which lobbying, rumor, technical problems, and public discourse can impact on the interpretations of the technology regarding ethics. Highlighting the importance of incorporating ORAs into the broader context of relationship management that integrates ethics as fairness and not only ethics as honesty serves to illustrate why the future of ORAs might not be as bright as predicted by a theoretical interpretation of the technology that is sometimes disconnected from the realities of the field.

'Snake-Oil Security Claims' the Systematic Misrepresentation of Product Security in the E-Commerce Arena

The modern commercial systems and software industry in the United States have grown up in a snake-oil salesman’s paradise. The largest sector of this industry by far is composed of standard commercial systems that are marketed to provide specified functionality (e.g. Internet web server, firewall, router, etc.). Such products are generally provided with a blanket disclaimer stating that the purchaser must evaluate the suitability of the product for use, and that the user assumes all liability for product behavior. In general, users cannot evaluate and cannot be expected to evaluate the security claims of a product. The ability to analyze security claims is important because a consumer may place unwarranted trust in the security abilities of a web server (or other computer device) to perform its stated purpose, thereby putting his own organization at risk, as well as third parties (consumers, business partners, etc.). All but the largest and most capable organizations lack the resources or expertise to evaluate the security claims of a product. More importantly, no reasonable and knowledgeable person would expect them to be able to do so. The normal legal presumptions of approximate equality of bargaining power and comparable sophistication in evaluating benefits and risks are grievously unjust in the context of software security. In these transactions, it is far wiser to view the general purchaser, even if that purchaser is a sizable corporation, as an ignorant consumer.Hence, often purchasers accept what appear to be either implied merchantability claims of the vendor or claims of salespersons’ made outside of the context of a written document. These claims frequently have little, if any, basis in fact. These standard commercial systems form the bulk of the critical infrastructure of existing Internet functionality and ecommerce systems. Often, these systems are not trustworthy, yet the use of these systems by misinformed purchasers created massive vulnerability for both purchasers and third parties (including a substantial fraction of both U.S. and international citizens). The frequent disclosure of individual credit card information from supposedly secure commercial systems illustrates an aspect of this vulnerability and raises serious questions concerning the merchantability of these systems. While it is impossible to avoid all risks, they can be reduced to a very small fraction of their current level. Vendors have willfully taken approaches and used processes that do not allow assurance of appropriate security properties, while simultaneously and recklessly misrepresenting the security properties of their products to their customers.

An Action Research Case Study of the Facilitators and Inhibitors of E-Commerce Adoption

This research has studied an established Irish retail business as it takes its first tentative steps into the e-commerce arena. Although the adoption of e-commerce is widely studied in the academic world, only a small percentage of these studies focus on the Small to Medium size Enterprise (SME) retail sector. SMEs account for 97% of Irish companies and employ up to 800,000 people (Chamber of Commerce Ireland, 2006). Whilst examining the SME’s adoption of e-commerce, the factors that affected the adoption process were specifically identified and understood. This was achieved by conducting an action research case study. Action research merges research and practice thus producing exceedingly relevant research findings. The case study commenced in August 2003 and concluded in August 2004. It consisted of three distinctive action research cycles. The researcher worked in the SME throughout the research process, and had been employed there for the previous 5 years. This chapter demonstrates how the research was undertaken, and also discusses the justification, benefits and limitations of using action research. The research concluded that the adoption of e-commerce within the SME sector tends to be slow and fragmented, the presence of a “web champion” is paramount to the success of the project and Internet adoption is faster with the recognition of a business need. It also supported the evidence that an SME is more likely to adopt e-commerce when the SME owner has a positive attitude to IT.

IMPROVING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF KNOWLEDGE BASED RECOMMENDER SYSTEMS USING INCOMPLETE LINGUISTIC PREFERENCE RELATIONS

In the e-commerce arena new methods and tools have been recently developed to improve and customize the e-commerce web sites, according to users' necessities and preferences, that are usually vague and uncertain. The most successful tool in this field has been the Recommender Systems. Their aim is to assist e-shops customers to find out the most suitable products by using recommendations. Sometimes, these systems face situations where there is a lack of information or the information is vague or imprecise that yield unsuccessful results. Although several solutions have been proposed, they still present some limitations. In this paper, we present a Knowledge-Based Recommender System that manages and models the uncertainty related to users' preferences by using linguistic information. This system will overcome the problem of lack of information by computing recommendations through completing incomplete linguistic preference relations provided by the users.

Consumer-to-Consumer Electronic Commerce

Consumer-to-consumer (C2C) e-commerce is a growing area of e-commerce. However, according to a meta-analysis of critical themes of e-commerce, C2C e-commerce was only represented in the area of online auctions (Wareham, Zheng, &amp; Straub, 2005). C2C e-commerce can encompass much more than just auctions. The question then becomes, “is C2C e-commerce a different research area that deserves its own stream of research?” This study adapts constructs from a business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce study of satisfaction (Devaraj, Fan, &amp; Kohli, 2002) to determine what, if any, the differences are in the C2C e-commerce arena. The constructs include elements of the technology acceptance model (TAM), which includes perceived ease of use and usefulness; transaction cost analysis (TCA), which includes uncertainty, asset specificity, and time; and service quality (SERVQUAL), which includes reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. Participants in the study answered questions regarding these various constructs in relation to their experiences with C2C e-commerce. The findings indicate that TAM, TCA, and SERVQUAL all impact satisfaction in C2C e-commerce. Reliability and responsiveness (areas of service quality) were found to influence C2C e-commerce satisfaction, where as they were not found to be an influence in the B2C study. These findings warrant further research in the C2C e-commerce arena. The study provides implications for future research and practice.

The Financial Potential of Sporadic Customers in E-Retailing

The scope of this article is to explore the transaction profitability of frequent and sporadic buyers in the e-commerce arena. Evidence in relationship marketing literature stressing the impact of purchase frequency on customer transaction profitability as well as recent academic research challenging this approach and pointing out the importance of sporadic clients is analyzed and presented. A single case study research methodology was chosen for this article due to the exploratory facets associated with the subject and the industry under investigation. In order to gather relevant input to carry out this research, one of the largest retailing groups in Brazil was investigated. Conclusions are drawn showing that greater frequency of purchases does not necessarily translate into increased customer transaction profitability. Implications are presented, enabling practitioners and academics to grasp fully the real value of customers — both frequent and sporadic buyers — in order to develop coherent approaches for dealing with them adequately.

Digital signature: use and modification to achieve success in next generational e-business processes

A US law, the electronic signatures (E-Sign) in Global and National Commerce Act (signed by then President Clinton on 30 June 2000 with an effective date of 1 October 2000), grants electronic signatures legal validity equivalent to traditional hand-written counterparts. The intention of this law is to cut costs while providing more stringent security. In the emerging e-commerce arena, electronic signatures hold great potential for facilitating secure electronic transactions. But signatures are used in many critical business processes that occur prior to or independent of final transactions. Contract development and numerous other processes entail a series of draft modifications and sign-offs. Can electronic signatures provide cost savings and security in these activities? In this paper, we (i) detail fundamentals and the current status of electronic signatures; (ii) describe the integration of electronic signatures with electronic verification and authentication technologies; (iii) explore e-commerce applications, especially document management processes, that could benefit from adopting electronic signatures; and (iv) propose modifications to the electronic signature process to enable innovative document management processes. We propose modifications using partial document ownership, soft signatures, and hard signatures.

Internet Integrated Customer Relationship Management a Key Success Factor for Companies in the E-Commerce Arena

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the application of the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in New Economy, which is characterized by the advancement in the information technology. The impacts of the Internet on CRM are assessed in detail in order to reveal the new opportunities and challenges related to CRM in the business settings. In addition, this paper addresses the relationship between CRM and other E-commerce applications, including ERP, SCM and Data Warehousing. Such addresses indicate the role of CRM in the E-commerce arena. Based on the analysis, CRM's future implications in the Internet era to be discussed.

The impact of electronic commerce on the publishing industry: towards a business value complementarity framework of electronic publishing

The publishing industry, like many other industries, is exploring new markets, new services and new products in response to forces such as advances in information and communication technologies, business strategies such as mass customisation, globalisation and shorter production cycles. This paper focuses on the way in which electronic commerce (e-commerce) technologies are changing and could change the publishing processes, and develops a business value complementarity model of electronic publishing. This model gives a theoretical rationale for, and can be used as a methodology to explore, complementarities between different primary activities and supporting technologies when entering the e-commerce arena in order to maximise profitability and improve the competitive position.