How Should E-Commerce be designed to enhance Customer Satisfaction & Loyalty? A Comparison between UAE and UK E-Commerce Frameworks (Research Paper Sample)

How Should E-Commerce be designed to enhance Customer Satisfaction & Loyalty? A Comparison between UAE and UK E-Commerce Frameworks Customer Inserts His/Her Name Customer Inserts Grade Course Customer Inserts Tutor’s Name (Date) Table of Contents Abstract 5 1.0 Introduction 6 1.1 Background 6 1.2 Study Objectives 8 1.3 Problem Statement 10 1.4 Significance of Study 11 1.5 Hypothesis 12 1.6 Structure of the Study 12 2.0 Literature Review 13 2.1 Introduction 13 2.2 Definition and Importance of E-Commerce 15 2.3 Types of E-Commerce 17 2.4 Importance of e-CRM and e-Tailing 20 2.5 The Big Question 21 2.6 Value perceptions in E-Commerce 24 3.0 Methodology 30 3.1 Introduction 30 3.2 Research Design 31 3.3 Target Population and Sample 33 3.4 Data Gathering Instruments 34 3.5 Ethical Issues 34 3.6 Data Analysis 35 3.7 Presentation of Findings 39 4. Discussion 46 4.1 Significance of Trust 46 4.2 Value perceptions of Firms 48 4.3 Maturity of E-commerce in the UK 50 4.4 Problems 52 4.5 Brand Image Building and E-commerce 55 4.6 Use of Technology 58 5. Conclusion 59 6. Recommendations 61 7. Bibliography 63 8. Appendix 68 Abstract Internet technology is now considered to be deeply transforming the business paradigms especially in the context of e-commerce. Business to Business (B2B) is recognized universally as the segment of e-commerce with the maximum potential for global business development. However, the potential of e-commerce is substantially impacted by the presence of several hurdles and technologically created snags that are preventing a major section of the population in several countries from freely transacting through e-commerce for their individual and business needs. This paper has examined several studies that have been conducted in regard to the usefulness and viability of businesses that adopt e-commerce frameworks into their respective systems. In making comparison of the status of e-commerce in the UK and the UAE, this paper has focused on how e-commerce applications can be designed to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. Such objectives have been achieved by comparing the e-commerce platforms in the two countries and how efficiently they cater to the needs and expectations of customers in both nations. A critical evaluation has been done of the different strategies in both the UK and UAE in ascertaining customer experiences while they transact business using e-commerce protocols. The main challenges faced by e-commerce business in both countries have been critically examined in attempts to balance the intricate relationships amongst technology maximization and profit maximization. 1.0: Introduction 1.1: Background During the last two decades the information technology industry has focused upon moving in the direction of developing the World Wide Web. Information systems that make use of www technology that is delivered through intranet or the Internet have now become increasingly prevalent across the world. In any given country there are a large number of organisations that deploy Information Systems into the World Wide Web including government departments, banks and other services providers. These entities have been using the World Wide Web as strategic business tools that support their present functions or provide low-cost solutions to deliver new products and services. Because of such developments, businesses have been utilizing the Internet with immense speed in terms of their sales and other business transactions and such an environment is now widely understood as e-commerce. There have thus been dramatic changes in the business world brought about by technological advancements of the 21st century. Presently, business executives and clients are equally overwhelmed by futuristic scenarios of business assisted by a click of the computer mouse (Kalakota & Whinston, 1997). A once ambiguous notion found only in mythical and science fiction, e-commerce has not only asserted its influence in global business scene, but has also become one of the most sought after tools of engaging in contemporary business. Businesses the world over have experienced the excitement of this new phenomena as it manoeuvred its way through the various phases of growth to reach its present stage. In some countries, the sprint to experience e-commerce during the formative years of its growth was equated to a gold rush, with businesses investing profoundly in everything starting with an ‘E’ in the hope of reaping maximum profits from the opportunities presented by the technology (Korper & Ellis, 2001). The fact that businesses have benefited from embracing the e-commerce platform can never be denied. It can be argued without fear of contradiction that businesses continue to reap maximum benefits in both business to consumer (B2C) and business to business (B2B) market segments (Korper & Ellis, 2001). The e-commerce framework has allowed organizations to not only transact business without having to worry about time or distance barriers, but also expand their clientele without having to spend huge amounts of money in advertisement costs (Burkey et al, 2007). Apart from offering a wide allay of benefits to companies, e-commerce must have provisions that cater for the needs, values, and perceptions of customers (Andam, 2003). Indeed, according to the author, e-commerce frameworks must never be overly interested in pursuing and fulfilling the interests of organizations at the expense of customers. This study aims to focus on two countries – UK and UAE – in an attempt to evaluate how e-commerce frameworks guarantee customer satisfaction. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveals that more UK-based organizations and customers are adopting the use of technology to transact business. According to ONS (2009), “…the proportion of [UK] businesses using the internet to sell rose from 14.4 percent in 2007 to 15.2 percent in 2008. The proportion using a website for their sales was 12.6 percent in 2008” (p. 1). The situation is not any different in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Indeed, Dubai is one of the few Arab nations to fully embrace e-commerce as the preferred platform for transacting business (Dutta & Coury, n.d.) The growth that has taken place in the online market is much greater than the development in conventional retail markets. People have now begun to shop online and as the global economy shows signs of recovery increasing competition will be the main factor that businesses will consider in carrying out e-commerce activities. In fact, e-commerce has become the main basis for businesses to achieve long-term sustainability and growth. Customer loyalty has been on the minds of most market else and companies have been spending huge amounts on improving customer relationship with the objectives of building customer loyalty. It appears to be strange that the notion of customer loyalty is not recognized by consumers. In the viewpoint of most organisations the issue of brand or customer loyalty is plainly seen from the perspective of the previous in the context of repeated purchases. In view of such attitudes many companies primarily aimed at enhancing the patterns of repeated purchasing amongst present customers. In support of such efforts marketers have devised predictive models in showing the significant impact on profitability of the percentage of repeat purchases made by existing customers. Such issues attain a great deal of importance for organisations that conducted business to e-commerce in view of the problems associated with taking initiatives for customer relationship management. The one-to-one concept of marketing has generated considerable interest in coming closer to customers. In e-commerce, the concept is grounded on information technologies as being important means that can capture the required customer preferences that further leads to repeat purchases by customers through easy means of transactions. Theorists have cited typical examples of customer service whereby service providers had to answer several questions to satisfy the customer. For instance while checking into a hotel a guest has several questions in mind that reveal his true preferences. E-commerce allows businesses to capture customer attitudes and preferences through the click of a mouse, which further enhances convenience and the customer tends to be satisfied in having his preferences complied with by the service provider. It is also known that customer preferences usually remain the same and once they...