E-commerce is increasingly recognised as an integrated, rather than independent, part of the retail industry. As online competition grows and online marketing activities intensify, the importance of customer loyalty in e-retailing has also taken central stage in marketing research. This study explores the nature and characteristics of e-loyalty and its direct and indirect antecedents. Drawing from the literature on customer loyalty in the traditional, offline business context, it contends that e-loyalty is determined primarily by the quality of the relationship between an Internet retailer and its customers, and the customers' overall satisfaction with the retailer. Relationship quality, in turn, is influenced by the levels of perceived safety, trust and commitment that customers have in relation to their retailer, while service quality, Web site quality and value perception contribute to overall customer satisfaction in this context. Thus, relationship quality and overall satisfaction mediate the relationship between e-loyalty and its indirect predictors. To test these relationships, over 500 customers of four Australian Internet retailers were surveyed online. The questionnaire contains 92 indicators that have been either employed in prior research, or newly developed based on existing theory. These indicators were first factor analysed to determine the underlying dimensions of the research constructs. The relationships between these constructs were subsequently tested using structural equation modelling (SEM). In general, most hypothesised relationships were well supported, suggesting a consistency in the relationships between these constructs across online and offline settings. To this extent, the results indicate that existing offline marketing theories can provide a platform to create a body of knowledge pertinent to Web-based marketing. The results of the analysis, however, also show that not all hypothesised relationships could be upheld. Also, the findings indicate that the dimensionality of some constructs differs, to varying degrees, from what is reported in prior studies. These suggest that online consumer perception and behaviour are likely to differ, in some way, from those in the offline context, signalling a need for more context-specific research into this domain. On the whole, the study confirms the existence and benefits of customer loyalty in online retailing. In addition, it identifies four underlying dimensions of e-loyalty. Dimension 1 comprises behaviours commonly cited as the most prominent and beneficial indicators of customer loyalty (such as repurchase behaviour and word-of-mouth communication). Dimension 2 reflects the level of attachment that loyal customers feel towards their retailers. Dimension 3 indicates customer willingness to adjust their consumption patterns in favour of the retailer's range of offerings. The last dimension is related to customer willingness to move beyond a pure buyer-seller relationship, and to engage in partner-like behaviours (e.g., tolerating mistakes and providing feedback). With regard to relationships between the research constructs, the SEM results confirm that service quality, web site quality, and value perception are major predictors of overall satisfaction, while trust and commitment, but not safety perception, are antecedents of relationship quality. E-loyalty is not found to be significantly affected by overall satisfaction, whereas relationship quality only has a slightly noticeable impact on this construct. The findings thus fail to support the notion that customer satisfaction and relationship quality are two major antecedents of e-loyalty. The results also do not support the speculation that satisfaction and relationship quality are the main mediators of the relationship between e-loyalty and its primary antecedents. On the contrary, e-loyalty is found to be influenced directly by customer commitment, value perception and service quality, and indirectly by Web site quality, safety perception and trust. With online shopping growing in popularity, insights into the dimensionality of e-loyalty, as well as the factors that engender e-loyalty, can provide a useful framework on which appropriate marketing strategies could be developed to enhance the loyalty of online shoppers. To this extent, findings from this research are meaningful not only for marketing academics but, also, for Internet retailers.

In 1995, few retailers considered the Internet important to the future of their businesses. By 2000 the prevailing wisdom suggests that it has become almost imperative to incorporate the Internet into a company's business activities. However, whilst some areas of the U.K. retail sector are successfully integrating the Internet into their businesses others remain unconnected. This work is a study of Internet adoption amongst UK retailers from 1995 to 2000. It explores the level of adoption in terms of the technical progression and extent of adoption, in terms of the range of features included in retail Web-sites. Additionally, the project explores the factors that are likely to influence the retailers' Internet adoption progress. A multi-method research strategy was used combining qualitative and quantitative methods: an on-line survey of retail Web activities followed by in-depth interviews and finally, a postal survey. The results of the on-line survey reveal that Internet adoption varies according to retailer size and product assortment. Some retailers' Web-sites include a range of informational, interactive or transactional features, while others have yet to be developed sufficiently to be available via the Web. The results of the Interviews and postal survey indicate that some retail organisations may be better positioned to take advantage of the Internet than others. Indeed, nine critical factors are found to have a significant influence upon the retailers' level of Internet adoption. In particular, operating in an appropriate market sector and having a positive view of the viability of the Internet, in-conjunction with the development of an appropriate Internet strategy, can strongly facilitate a retailer's adoption progress. From the, researcher's perspective, this study is important as it identifies many new variables and factors, and provides insights into how to devise a robust, multi-faceted methodology.

Background - Luxury companies have long been reluctant to adopt the internet as a mode of distribution. A luxury brand’s concept of exclusiveness is seemingly incompatible with the ubiquitous nature of the internet. Hence, many luxury brands are fearful that distributing their products on third-party online retail platforms might decrease the brands’ vital aura of luxury. Purpose - The purpose of this study is to explore consumer perceptions, attitudes and purchase intention towards a luxury brand being distributed on an online multibrand marketplace. This research aims to fill the existing gap on the ambiguous nature of luxury branding and distribution in an online multibrand context. Methodology - A qualitative approach including ten semi-structured interviews with Swedish millennials were conducted. A case study of a hypothetical brand alliance between Louis Vuitton and Amazon was developed, presented and discussed. Collected data was analyzed through thematic analysis. Findings - Results show that the online distribution of a luxury brand did influence consumer perceptions of the luxury brand when seen online. However, it did not result in a change in their overall attitude or purchase intention towards the luxury brand. Additionally, it was found that consumers were not willing to buy luxury on an multibrand marketplace platform.