Electroniccommerce or e-commerce is a term for any type of business, or commercial transactionthat involves the transfer of information across the Internet. It covers arange of different types of businesses, from consumer based retail sites,through auction or music sites, to business exchanges trading goods andservices between corporations. It is currently one of the most importantaspects of the Internet to emerge. Also it refers to the purchase and sale ofgoods and/or services via electronic channels such as the internet. It is atype of business model, or segment of a larger business model, that enables afirm or individual to conduct business over an electronic network, typicallythe internet.

Electronic commerce operates in all four of the major marketsegments: business to business, business to consumer, consumer to consumer andconsumer to business. Almost any product or service can be offered via e-commerce,from books and music to financial services and plane tickets. E-commerce wasfirst introduced in the 1960s via an electronic data interchange (EDI) onvalue-added networks (VANs). The medium grew with the increased availability ofinternet access and the advent of popular online sellers in the 1990s and early2000s (Rivera, 2017). Some examples of e-commerce are online shopping,electronic payments, Internet banking, online ticketing etc. The benefits ofecommerce revolve around the fact that it eliminates limitations of time andgeographical distance. In the process, e-commerce usually streamlinesoperations and lowers costs.

 1.7 Types ofE-commerce Classifyinge-commerce businesses is tricky. Researches run the risk of turning it into aninconsequential exercise, or they could end up splitting hair. To grasp adeeper understanding of e-commerce concepts, it is important to ascertain thebasis and purpose of classifying e-commerce businesses into types. The firstthing to think about is the type of business transaction that the firm is goingfor, and who the firm wants to sell its goods and services to.

Which businessmodel to apply, B2B, B2C, C2C, or C2B? To be more specific, the e-commerce businessmodels can be divided into four major types, all with differentcharacteristics.1.7.

1B2B E-CommerceBusiness-to-businesse-commerce is the transactions between two companies. B2B activity is not new,but the internet has changed how everything is transacted. While many ecommercebusinesses in this niche are service providers, there are software companies,office furniture and supply companies, document hosting companies, and numerousother e-commerce business models under this heading.  An example of B2B is a company that outsourcesits bookkeeping activities to another company.  1.7.2 B2CE-CommerceBusiness-to-Consumer e-commerce transactionsdeal with customers purchasing products and services from companies through theInternet (Johnson, 2017).The B2C sector is what most people think of when theyimagine an e-commerce business.

This is the deepest e-commerce market. Whencompared to buying retail in traditional commerce, the consumer usually hasmore information available in terms of informative content and there is also awidespread idea that the products will be cheaper, without jeopardizing anequally personalized customer service, as well as ensuring quick processing anddelivery of the order. 1.7.3 C2CE-commerceConsumer-to-consumer transactionsoccur when a company places a job online and businesses bid on the project. Createdby the rise of the e-commerce sector and growing consumer confidence in onlinesales, these sites allow customers to trade, buy, and sell items in exchangefor a small commission paid to the site.

Opening a C2C site takes carefulplanning. Despite the obvious success of platforms like eBay and Craigslist,numerous other auction and classified sites (the main arenas for C2C) haveopened and quickly closed due to unsustainable models. 1.

7.4 C2BE-commerceConsumer-to-businesse-commerce seems lop-sided. But online commerce has empowered consumers tooriginate requirements that businesses fulfill. This type of ecommerce businessinvolves individuals selling products or services to businesses, and is roughlyequivalent to a sole proprietorship serving a larger business. An example ofthis could be a job board where a consumer places her requirements and multiplecompanies bid for winning the project (Dematas, 2017).Thereis a lot of value in being clear about the type of e-commerce business one istalking about.

Among other benefits, it allows us to make like-to-likecomparisons across e-commerce businesses. At the same time, it helps us betterunderstand the business model of different e-commerce players (Fernandez, 2014). 1.

8 CustomerSatisfactionCustomersatisfaction is a marketing term that measures how products or servicessupplied by a company meet or surpass a customer’s expectation (Beard, 2014).Also it measures the level of satisfaction of a customer with the suppliedproduct/service. It is closely related to interpersonal trust. Customersatisfaction measures how well the expectations of a customer concerning aproduct or service provided by the company have been met. Customer satisfactionis an abstract concept that involves such factors as the quality of theproduct, the quality of the service provided, the atmosphere of the locationwhere the product or service is purchased, and the price of the product orservice (Grimsley, 2016).

It is the measure of how the needs and responses arecollaborated and delivered to excel customer expectation. Customer satisfactionis a part of customer’s experience that exposes a supplier’s behavior oncustomer’s expectation. Customer satisfaction is the overall essence of theimpression about the supplier by the customers, it is important due to many factorsas it’s a leading indicator of consumer repurchase intentions and loyalty, it’sa point of differentiation, it reduces customer churn, it increases customerlifetime value, it reduces negative word of mouth, and it’s cheaper to retaincustomers than acquire new ones (Beard,2014).1.9 Factors affecting customer satisfaction Factorsaffecting customer satisfaction is of worth importance in order to know thereasons or the factors which are responsible to create satisfaction amongcustomers for a particular brand. Some of these factors include: 1.

9.1 Product qualityProductquality is an important factor that extremely affects the customer’s decisionswhether to buy the product or not. Product quality refers to the group ofsaleable good’s features and characteristics that determine the quality’sdesirability and that can be controlled by manufacturer in order to meet thebasic requirements. Most businesses that produce goods and offer them for saleusually have product quality or assurance departments that control and monitorthe outgoing goods for consumer acceptability. Product quality is a way tointegrate features that have a capacity to meet consumer needs and providecustomer satisfaction by improving products (goods) and making them free of anydeficiencies or defects. Customers are satisfied when the perceived servicemeets or exceeds their expectations. They are dissatisfied when they feel thatthe service didn’t meet their high expectations.

Quality and customersatisfaction have provided some insights into determining the levels ofsatisfaction for product experience. The more quality information provided bythe online retailers, the better the decisions could be done adequately (Ludin , 2014). Customer service and a positive customer experience are necessaryto sales in the e-commerce marketplace. Product quality is customers’ overallevaluation of the excellence in the performance of the good or service (John,Mowen & Michael, 1997).

1.9.2 Customer ServicesCustomerservice refer to the system of activities that include customer supportsystems, complaint processing, speed of complaint processing, ease of reportingcomplaint and friendliness when reporting complaint (Kim, Park and Jeong ,2004).

According to Ahn et al. (2006), when the customers’ complaints are notconsidered properly and quickly, they start looking for other brands withhigher performance. The friendly attitude and well-mannered behavior of thecustomer service employees at service firms leaves a positive impression on theonline customers which can lead then to satisfaction (Soderlundet al., 2008). 1.9.3 PriceFairnessAsdiscussed earlier, online customers became more aware as they compare theprices of products and service before taking the purchasing decision.

Accordingto Kotler et al. (2010) price is the amount of money charged for a product orservice, or the sum of the values that customers exchange for the benefits ofhaving or using the product or service. While Stanton et al. (1994) definedprice as the amount of money or goods needed to acquire some combination ofanother goods and its companying services. Price fairness is a very importantconcern that leads toward satisfaction as it refers to consumers’ assessmentsof whether a seller’s price is reasonable, acceptable or justifiable.

Improvingcustomer satisfaction and customer loyalty can be done through charging fairand good prices. 1.9.

4TechnologyThetechnology factors refer to the websites’ qualities that make certainfunctionality of the site. These factors include security features, websiteease of use, user-friendly website, and privacy. Security refers to thewebsite’s ability to protect the customer’s personal information collectedduring electronic transactions from unauthorized use of disclosure or fromhacking.

Website ease of use and user friendliness refers to the website’sspeed, direction-finding capability, simple search paths, and interactivity.Privacy refers to the willingness to share information over the Internet thatallows for the conclusion of a purchase (Bèlanger et al., 2002).1.9.5 LogisticsLogisticfactors refer to the delivery of the products and services. They include twomain services which are delivery performance and service that refer to aspectssuch as speed of delivery, tracking and tracing, accuracy of delivery andcommunication with customers regarding possible delays in delivery.1.

10 Literature reviewThe study held in2017 by G.R Amanjaneyulu et al. discussed the CustomerSatisfaction towards online Stores. A Survey was distributed among a sample of 100respondents. Based on the findings, the results showed that themajority of people prefer amazon.com and young customers are most recreationalin their searching shopping. Online store customers had been satisfied withservices provided by online stores except guaranty, warranty, and after saleservice (G.R Amanjaneyulu, 2017).

Recently in2017, Dr. A B Santhi discussed the factors influencing customers’ onlineshopping decisions and how these factors affect customer satisfaction. Awell-structured questionnaire was designed and administered to collect samplesacross Tirupati Town.

The study has been undertaken with reference to a samplesize of 120 respondents. The results indicated that the respondents arebecoming more internet savvy every day as they become more confident they areready to buy high value products online as well. The results also indicatedthat businesses venturing or expanding into the online market need to reducethe customer perceived risks by making shopping portals easier to navigate,providing secure payment options as per norms, ensuring speed and quality ofdelivery to gain and maintain customer trust(Santhi ,  2017).In 2015, S.BHUVANESWARANet al.’s study discussed the customer satisfaction towards Flipkart.com usersand tried to find out various attributes of Flipkart users of Chennai citytowards the online shopping. Survey was conducted and distributed amongrespondents.

The results indicated that the frequency of purchase is more amongmen and the word of mouth was more influential in promotion. The results alsoshowed that most of the customers were satisfied with the services of Flipkartand were willing to recommend them to make purchases from Flipkart. Exceptpackaging and warranty, all others are considered important in the decisionmaking of online purchases. Almost all the factors that Flipkart is focusingonto are of high importance to the customer. The commercials used by Flipkartare effective enough to convey the message since the ads are interesting enoughto gain attention and position itself into the prospects mind (S.

BHUVANESWARAN,2015). The study held byŽivil?Baubonien?et al. in 2015 discussed e-commerce factors influencing consumers’ onlineshopping decisions. These factors have been disclosed throughquantitative research by analyzing data collected via a web?basedquestionnaire survey. The sample consisted of 183 Lithuanian consumers who werepurchasing online. The empirical findings of their study indicated that themain factors influencing consumers to shop online are convenience, simplicityand better price. Analysis of socio-demographical characteristics such asgender has shown that men shop more often online because of the lower price.Respondents of the 25–35 year age group more often choose shopping online forsuch reasons as lack of time and a wide range of products.

The most beneficialfactor of shopping online was identified as a possibility to compare prices andbuy at a lower price (Živil?Baubonien?, 2015).Also in 2015 MutiaSobih et al. discussedE-Commerce service quality on customer satisfaction, belief and loyalty. Theresearcher used survey to collect primary data from populations which wereforeign tourists who have reserved a hotel rooms online.

The study wasconducted on three hotels in which 100 respondents selected and givenquestionnaires in Malaysia. Based on the discussions, the results show thatE-commerce service quality affects customer satisfaction and in order to have asatisfied customer, the hotel industry should fulfill the service qualityexpected by customers (Mutiasobih, 2015).In 2015 H. Musaet al. investigated factors affecting customer satisfaction towards online shopping.There are three factors contributed to this research which are product quality,brand, and shopping experience. A survey of 150 questionnaires had distributedamong university student to gauge their factors to shop online. The data hasbeen collected and analyzed by using Statistical Package for Social Science(SPSS) and Microsoft Excel.

Based on the research, the results show thatproduct quality, brand and shopping experience have a significant relationshipto customer satisfaction towards online shopping (Musa, 2015).In 2014 SharonRudansky-Kloppers discussed investigating factors influencing customer onlinebuying satisfaction in Gauteng, South Africa. The researcher used a sample of111 online shoppers and conducted a quantitative research by means of astructured questionnaire. The results indicated that customers viewconvenience, delivery, and time saving as the most important reasons for buyingonline, while branding was viewed as the least important factor (kloppers, 2014).

Also, Shuqin Cai et al. 2014 discussed the impacts of servicequality and customer satisfaction in the e-commerce context. Data werecollected through online questionnaire survey link that was sending out tocontacts through QQ, which is the most popular social networking tool, in whichcontacts were asked friendly to pass the questionnaire link to their owncontacts. In total 699 samples were collected and within the 699 samples, therewere 495 are valid and others are invalid due to uncompleted questions. Theresults indicated that both e-service quality and logistics service quality arestrongly linked with customer satisfaction.

The research results shown thatpractitioners (e-retailers) should not only focus on e-service quality, butalso the logistics service quality (ShuqinCaiin, 2014).In other study, Aleksandra Radziszewska (2013) discussed therelationships between the main dimensions of e-commerce and the e- customersatisfaction. The sample included the customers of some e-commerce sites.

Questionnaires were distributed to potential respondents in which 183 of300customers replied and among the 183 respondents, 67 of them indicated thatthey have little or no experience of online shopping, 16 questionnaires wereuncompleted and 100 respondents have been used in the analysis of data, byusing Correlation Coefficient analysis. All respondents have experience ofonline shopping. The study indicated that there are four proposed dimensions ofonline shopping quality have different influence on e-customers’ satisfactionwhich are website quality, e-service quality, trust and personalization (radziszewska,2013).Guo, Ling et al. in 2012 developed a model of factors influencing onlineshopping satisfaction in China. They identified eight influencing factors oncustomer satisfaction which are; website design, security, information quality,payment method, e-service quality, product quality, product variety, anddelivery service. They found that all of these eight factors are positivelyrelated to consumer satisfaction when buying online (Ling, 2012).

In 2012 Byambaa et al. designed and tested their model of factors influencingonline satisfaction of buyers of electronic airline tickets. These factors areease of use, information quality, website design, payment security, andinteractivity. Based on the model, they found that three of these factors wereextremely significant in affecting satisfaction of online e-ticket shoppers;namely, interactivity, payment security, and ease of use (Byambaa, 2012).In 2011, Chun-Chun Lin et al.’s studydiscussed the critical factors impact on online customer satisfaction.

Theinvestigator distributed 390 questionnaires to undergraduate students on campusface to face and participants were asked to recall a recent on-line purchasingexperience and refer to this experience when providing their answers. Multipleregression techniques were used to verify the overall model fit and toillustrate online customers’ satisfaction. Based on the findings of thisresearch, user e-commerce satisfaction context relates to six factors affectingcustomer satisfaction: information quality, system quality, service quality,product quality, delivery quality, and perceived price(Lin, 2011).While in 2011, Mustafa I. Eid discussed thedeterminants of e-commerce customer satisfaction, trust, and loyalty in SaudiArabia.

  The main objective of thatresearch is to identify the factors that influence the extent to which Saudiconsumers are satisfied with B2C e-commerce. A survey questionnaire was conductedamong Saudi e-commerce customers. Of the 500 questionnaires distributed usingthe drop-off/pick-up method, 235 were picked-up resulting in a response rate of43.

6 %. Among the collected questionnaires, 17 were invalid resulting in 218usable questionnaires. The results show that the perceived security risk andperceived privacy were found to be weak determinants of e-commerce servicesatisfaction (Eid, 2011).In2011 Habibur Rahmanet al.

discussed customer satisfaction in E-Commerce whichwas their Master’s Thesis in International Business. The thesis is intended tostudy consumer satisfaction using e-commerce based on a sample from China andBangladesh. They collected the statistical data and literature from differentresources which helped to answer the thesis questions.300 questionnaires weredistributed, 261 were recovered , no regular shopping excluding and unqualifiedquestionnaires were 45. Total 216 questionnaires were valid for both China andBangladesh for e-commerce. The results oftheir study indicated that onlinemerchants, product categories, personalized and transaction security mechanismsincluding network speed of response, the website image of integrity, paymentsecurity, feedback, community interaction, and return were motivator factors andHygiene factors. However, confidentiality of personal information, productdescription, shopping convenience, product quality, product prices, save timeand operating procedures were half motivator factors (Habibur Rahmanet,2011).In 2010 Alam et al.

analyzed five factors influencing onlineshopping satisfaction in Malaysia which are; website design, reliability,product variety, time saved, and delivery performance. The researchers foundthat website design, reliability, product variety, and delivery performancewere the key variables influencing online shopping. The results indicate thatthe time saved did not have a significant effect on satisfaction of Malaysianshoppers (Alam, 2010).In 2008 Dan J Kim et al. discussed the role of trust, perceivedrisk, and their antecedents in e-commerce.

The data collected had indicatedthat participants in the sample were active online consumers in which over 90%of our respondents reported that they purchased products at least once throughthe Internet in 2007, and their average self-rated Internet experience was 5.52on a 7 point scale, with 7 being expert. The results showed that the Internetconsumers’ trust and perceived risk have strong impacts on their purchasingdecisions and consumer disposition to trust, privacy concerns, securityconcerns,  information quality of theWebsite, and company’s reputation, have strong effects on Internet consumers’trust and satisfaction in the Website(Kimet , 2008).In 2005 Schaupp et al. studied threecategories of determinants that could affect online shopper satisfaction.First, technology factors which include security, usability, Site design, and privacy.Second, shopping factors which include convenience, trust,trustworthiness, and delivery. Third,product factors which include merchandising, product value, and productcustomization.

The results indicated that the three most important attributesto consumers for online shopping satisfaction are privacy, which is atechnology factor; merchandising, which was classified as a product factor; andconvenience, which is a shopping factor. These are followed by trust, delivery,usability, product customization, product quality, and security (schaupp,2005).