Service Quality of Online Shopping Platforms

Abstract

Customer service is crucially important for online shopping platforms (OSPs) such as eBay and Taobao. Based on the well-established service quality instruments and the scenario of the specific case on Taobao, this paper focuses on exploring the service quality of an OSP with an aim of revealing customer perceptions of the service quality associated with the provided functions and investigating their impacts on customer loyalty. By an empirical study, this paper finds that the “fulfillment and responsiveness” function is significantly related to the customer loyalty. Further analytical study is conducted to reveal that the optimal service level on the “fulfillment and responsiveness” function for the risk averse OSP uniquely exists. Moreover, the analytical results prove that (i) if the customer loyalty is more positively correlated to the service level, it will lead to a larger optimal service level, and (ii) the optimal service level is independent of the profit target, the source of uncertainty, and the risk preference of the OSP.

1. Introduction

Observing from the popular and growing trend of electronic commerce (e-commerce), there is no doubt that business such as those selling fashion-related products can now use the Internet to interact with customers and gain the competitive edge. The critical determinants of success in e-commerce cover not only the low price strategy but also its service quality (i.e., e-service quality) [1, 2]. In the literature, Zeithaml [2] defines e-service quality as an overall customer assessment and judgment of e-service delivery in the virtual marketplace. To measure the customer perceptions of service quality, the SERVQUAL model, which was first developed by Parasuraman et al. [3], has been widely adopted. The SERVQUAL model includes five dimensions, namely, tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. Previous studies on the measurement of e-service quality focus on the “rewording” of the...