.comQ: Dimensionalizing, Measuring and Predicting eTail Quality

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.comQ Dimensionalizing, Measuring and
Predicting e-Tail Quality
Mary Gilly, UCI Mary Wolfinbarger, CSULB
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The Importance of Online Quality

• Analysts have touted unique capabilities of
  online (e.g. interactivity, community,
  personalization)
• Many attributes suggested no conceptual model

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The Importance of Online Quality

• Quality is related to loyalty, market share and
  profitability in products, services and in online
  settings
• Our study 3 multi-method steps Online and
  offline focus groups, a sorting task, an online
  survey

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Key Findings

• How do customers conceptualize the online
  shopping environment?
• Fulfillment (Reliability)
• Website Design
• Customer Service
• Privacy/Security
• Pricing (not a quality factor)

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Relationship of Factors to Satisfaction and
Quality

• Fulfillment, Website Design, Customer Service and
  Privacy/Security strongly predict quality
• Quality and pricing strongly predict satisfaction
  which in turn predicts re-purchase intentions
• Fulfillment and Website Design are the most
  important factors in predicting online quality
• Security/privacy may be inferred from other
  factors

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Analysis of Online Survey
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Online Survey Based on Cluster Analysis

• Results suggested a 6 or 9 cluster solution
• 1. Website Design
• 1a. Selection
• 1b. Information
• 1c. Experiential/Atmospheric Qualities
• 1d. Usability
• 2. Personalization
• 3. Customer Service
• 4. Security/Privacy
• 5. Reliability
• 6. Pricing (not a quality attribute, however)

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Online Survey

• Study 3 Online Survey
• Chose 44 statements from cluster analysis
• Utilized Harris Interactives online panel
• 1013 respondents
• Measured global quality, customer satisfaction,
  loyalty (re-purchase intentions subsection)
• Respondents reported most recent online purchase

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Online Survey

• Study 3 Online Survey
• Performed Exploratory Factor Analysis of 40
  quality items
• Analysis suggested 4 dimensions
• Website Design (including selection, usability,
  experiential attributes, information and
  personalization)
• Customer Service (helpfulness and responsiveness
  of personnel responses to email inquiry ease of
  return)
• Privacy/Security
• Reliability (received item ordered item as
  pictured on website delivered by time promised)
• Results similar to cluster analysis
• except that personalization not a separate factor
• Items that cross-loaded (e.g. download time,
  reputation) not included in final scale

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Online Survey

• Confirmatory Factor Analysis
• 24 items
• Investigated unidimensionality
• Items which loaded on multiple factors or are
  redundant with other items were removed
• 14 items retained for final scale
• 3 pricing items used in analysis as well

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Website Design, Cronbachs a.83 The website
provides in-depth information. The site doesnt
waste my time. It is quick and easy to complete a
transaction at this website. The level of
personalization at this site is about right, not
too much or too little. This website has good
selection. Construct Reliability .89, Average
Variance Extracted .50 Reliability/Fulfillment,
Cronbachs a.79 The product that came was
represented accurately by the website. You get
what you ordered from this website. The product
is delivered by the time promised by the
company. Construct Reliability .79, Average
Variance Extracted .56 Security/privacy,
Cronbachs a.88 I feel that my privacy is
protected at this site. I feel safe in my
transactions with this website. This website has
adequate security features. Construct Reliability
.88, Average Variance Extracted .72 Customer
Service, Cronbachs a.84 The company is willing
and ready to respond to customer needs. When you
have a problem, the website shows a sincere
interest in solving it. Inquiries are answered
promptly.Construct Reliability .84, Average
Variance Extracted .70
Fit Statistics  Degrees of Freedom 71, ?2
232, Goodness of Fit Index (GFI) .97, Adjusted
Goodnes of Fit Index (AGFI) .95, Non-normed Fit
Index (NNFI or TLI) .97, Comparative Fit Index
(CFI)  .98, Root Mean Square Residual (RMR)
.03, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation
(RMSEA) .04
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Online Survey

• Performed analysis for subsamples
• Goal-oriented vs. Experiential (browsers)
• E-tail vs. Auctions
• Books and Music subsample
• Frequent Buyers (4 times at the particular
  website)
• The factors hold up across all these settings
• Conclusion 4 dimensions website design,
  customer service, reliability, customer service
  can be measured by 14 items and generalize across
  a variety of contexts

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Online Survey
Table 7 Relationships of .comQ Factors to
Overall Quality, Satisfaction, Intentions and
Attitude towards the Website    

• But, do these four dimensions predict quality?
  Do they predict satisfaction, and intentions to
  re-purchase?

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Relationship of Factors to Quality
Website Design
.44
Fulfillment/ Reliability
.41
Quality
.11
Customer Service
-.07
R270
Security/Privacy
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Relationship of Factors to Quality
. 40
Website Design
Quality
.44
Intentions
Fulfillment/ Reliability
.70
.08
.94
Satisfaction
Customer Service
-.05
.26
R267 variance in quality R281 variance in
satisfaction R289 in Intentions
Security/Privacy
Price
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Gap Analysis of 40 Items (Expectations-Outcomes)

• (1) reasonable shipping and handling
• (2) shows an interest in solving my problems
• (3) straightforward return policies
• (4) inquiries are answered promptly
• (5) quick download
• (6) site always works
• (7) willing to help
• (8) go to exactly what I want
• (9) in-depth information and
• (10) website has features personalized for me

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Using the scale items in practice

• 14 quality items measure conceptual factors
• The longer 40 item version will help managers
  drill down
• An additional MSI study suggests the importance
  of two additional items
• Items are in stock. (fulfillment/reliability
  issue)
• Pricing information for complete shopping cart is
  easily available (website design issue)

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Questions
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Table 7 Relationships of .comQ Factors to
Overall Quality, Satisfaction, Intentions and
Attitude towards the Website    
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(No Transcript)
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Relationship of Factors to Satisfaction (with
most recent purchase)
Website Design
.16
Fulfillment/ Reliability
.49
Satisfaction
.14
Customer Service
.02
R255
Security/Privacy
(Adding Pricing brings R2 to 75)