| Keywords [eng] |
E-loyalty, E-stores, Website Characteristics, Customization, Perceived Enjoyment, Customer Support, Website Quality, Store Brand Image, E-stores selling different types of products. |
| Abstract [eng] |
With the rapid expansion of e-commerce in recent years and especially after COVID-19 in 2020, it is important for online sellers to understand what drives e-loyalty towards their online stores and what specific impact certain factors may have on online shoppers’ loyalty towards e-stores. Therefore, the aim of the paper was to analyze what website related factors influence loyalty towards online stores, the strength of the impact and to test if differences may appear when stores selling different types of products are analyzed. To fulfill the objective of the study, multiple factors influencing loyalty towards online stores were analyzed and it was decided to focus attention on website factors and the three most commonly cited mediators in the studies about e-loyalty namely e-satisfaction, e-trust, and e-commitment. Certain variables, to include Customization, demonstrated an evident lack of prior research which required further investigation. Studies where two types of e-stores were analyzed in the same articles were also scarce. Current research study focused on such variables as Customization, Perceived enjoyment, Customer support, Website quality and Store brand image, and mediators E-satisfaction, E-trust, and E-commitment. Findings revealed that all of the independent variables, excluding mediating variables and Customization did not have a significant direct impact on the dependent variable e-loyalty. Customization, however, did appear to have been directly linked to e-loyalty. Moreover, in accordance with the expectations, all the variables did have an indirect effect on e-loyalty through the mediating variable - e-satisfaction. Mediating role of e-commitment and e-trust and its indirect impact on e-loyalty did not find sufficient proof as well. Furthermore, Store brand image did prove to have impact on the relationship between independent variable and its impact on E-loyalty. Finally, certain effect or difference was spotted when different types of e-stores were analyzed. There are both academic and practical benefits of this research study as certain variables, for example, such as Customization and to some extent Store brand image, lacked previous research but appeared to be significant in the current study. E-store managers and marketers can draw from the conclusions to assess whether they are paying enough attention to the website-related factors that appeared to be influential in this research paper. |
