Importance of Online Retailing for Customer Satisfaction and Organizational Benefit

This literature review explores the importance of online retailing for customer satisfaction and organizational benefit, with a focus on Bunnings Group Australia. It covers the advantages of online retailing for meeting customer needs and satisfaction, and how organizations can benefit from it in terms of market competition and profits.

Running head: RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Literature Review on the Importance of Online Retailing for Customer Satisfaction and
Organizational Benefit
The Name of the Student:
The Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................2
Project Objective............................................................................................................2
Project Scope..................................................................................................................3
Literature Review...........................................................................................................3
Background................................................................................................................3
Customer Satisfaction................................................................................................3
Online Shopping.........................................................................................................4
Literature Gap............................................................................................................4
Research Question and Hypothesis................................................................................4
Research Design and Methodology...............................................................................5
Qualitative Study........................................................................................................5
Quantitative Study......................................................................................................5
Integration and Ethics................................................................................................6
Limitations.................................................................................................................6
Research Limitations......................................................................................................6
Research Plan.................................................................................................................7
Conclusion......................................................................................................................8
References......................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
In the field of business, goods and services are exchanged to gain financial benefits
with focusing on the primary objective of making profits. Business is not just a process of
exchange, but it also involves market research, managerial operations, customer satisfaction,
and corporate social activities. In the context of rapid technological advancement and the
development of various types of businesses and models that have similar offerings in a much
more convenient way, market research plays a vital role. According to AlGhamdi and Drew
(2012), market research provide detailed information regarding the consumers and the trend
in their buying behaviour and preferences, which help in targeting market through
segmentation, creating targeted advertisements, determine customer satisfaction, and
analysing market and industry competition. This insight information make the organisations
gain competitive advantage to bloom in terms of financial performance, corporate social
responsibilities, and customer satisfaction (West, Ford and Ibrahim 2015).
Therefore, today’s organisations need to do thorough market research to understand
the recent trends in the market and consumer behaviour patterns, so that they can succeed in
satisfying the requirements of the consumers and keep the profit level high. The purpose of
this research is to help Bunnings Group Australia construct strategies to develop
organisational profit and financial performance.
Project Objective
The primary objective of this research is to establish the importance of online retailing
for customer satisfaction and organisational benefits in the context of the Bunnings Group
Australia, which is a warehouse business that offers products and supplies for homeware
improvement and building.

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Project Scope
The need that has been observed in the online retail shops in order to satisfy the
customers and the corporate financial performance of the Bunnings Group Australia provide
justification for undertaking this research. This research covers the advantages that the online
retailing offers to meet the non-monetary needs and satisfaction of the customers, and further
looks into how the organisations gain benefits through online retailing in terms of market
competition and profits.
Literature Review
Background
Bunnings Group is a chain of warehouse retail stores that operate globally offering
home improvement products and hardware and building supplies. The company has been
dominating the Australian hardware market with an approximation of 16% market share, and
as observed by Campbell (2017), it has the scope of growth. This is supported by the
IBISworld, as it indicates that the hardware industry has the expectancy of growing by almost
2.7% in next 5 years.
Customer Satisfaction
Customer satisfaction is the indicator of the potentiality of the goods and services of
the organisations to satisfy both non-monetary and monetary needs of the customers (Deng et
al. 2010). In terms of market research, the determination and calculation of customer
satisfaction is based on the success rate of the offered products and services meeting the
customers’ perceived value of those. Customer satisfaction, according to Farris et al. (2010),
is an essential element in determining the competitive advantage of the organisations and
their ability to dominate the market. Hence, it can be concluded that customer satisfaction
indicates the future growth of an organisation.

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Online Shopping
As profitability is the primary goal of business, it is crucial to retain and increase
customers. In this context, customer satisfaction is the key to retain existing customers and
increase the customer base. Thus, it is evident that every organisation should do thorough
market research to understand the needs of the customers and figure out ways to satisfy those
(Greenland, Combe and Farrell 2016). Online shopping is becoming the current trend in the
consumer buying behaviour. The major reason for this is that it is a convenient way of
shopping, specifically in current century when people are busy most of the times. The
growing use of the internet and smartphones indicate that this trend would increase further in
the future. The measurements for customer satisfaction in online shopping are accurate
product information, reliability, cost and user interface (Heinemann and Schwarzl 2010).
Lack in any of these elements can create a negative perception about online shopping in the
customers (Clemons et al. 2016). On the other hand, providing all the relevant information,
properly designed user interface, and convenient cost can create a loyal customer base
(Clemes, Gan and Ren 2011).
Literature Gap
The above discussion indicates a literature gap on the usefulness of the online
retailing to increase the organisational benefit. Therefore, a research needs to be conducted
for the Bunnings Group in Australia to understand their customers’ satisfaction level and
recommend ways for the organisation to benefit from online retailing.
Research Question and Hypothesis
The primary research question is –
 How the online retailing effects on the shopping experience of the customers?
The secondary research questions are –

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i. Does the online retailing make the shopping experience of the customers easier?
ii. How does the satisfaction of the customers increase their loyalty towards the
organisations?
iii. How can the hardware and homeware business benefit from online retailing?
Therefore, the research hypotheses are –
H0: The online retailing makes the shopping experience of the customers easier and increases
their loyalty.
H1: The online retailing does not make the shopping experience of the customers better and
increase their loyalty.
H2: The hardware and homeware business can benefit from the online retailing.
H3: The hardware and homeware business cannot benefit from the online retailing.
Research Design and Methodology
Qualitative Study
This study will follow a mixed methodology through a multiphase process to confirm
the validation of the conducted research. As a method collecting primary data for the
qualitative research, in-depth interviews will be conducted with a sample size of five
executives of the Bunnings Australia. The sampling technique will be purposeful sampling to
ensure the reliability of the data (Robinson 2014). The instruments that will be required are
open-ended questions related to the research topic for the interviews. Preparation of these
questions is a significant step as the relevance of the data depends on it (Robinson 2014). The
data will be analysed through thematic analysis method as it will develop themes and patterns
from the data that would help the company understand the current trends.
Quantitative Study
In order to conduct the quantitative part of the research, the primary data will be

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collected through a thoroughly conducted survey among the employees of the Bunnings
Australia. The sample size will be 50 and the sampling technique will be convenience
sampling method. As in this non-probability sampling method the participants are selected
based on their accessibility of the related data, the accuracy of the data will be ensured.
Research instruments such as close-ended survey questionnaires will be required to conduct
this part of the research, and it crucial to make the questions pinpointed to make the data
reliable. The primary data will be statistically analysed and transformed into numerical data
to create graphs and charts.
Integration and Ethics
After analysing the data from both the studies, they will be integrated to understand
the broader perspective (Bryman 2017). Both the interviews and survey will take place in the
office premise of Bunnings Australia, and the scheduled time will be informed to the
employees to ensure their presence at that day. The research will only be conducted after the
company issues the No Objection Certificate and every participants including the executives
and the employees sign the permission form. Force will not be applied to any unwilling
employee to participate in the research, and the privacy act will be followed to maintain the
privacy of the company and the employees.
Limitations
Mixed methodology has certain limitations of its own. As it is a complex study, it
requires careful planning of sampling, timing, and integrating the collected data (Bryman
2017). The process of data integration is a particularly challenging task in this type of
researches. This methodology is a combination of two different methods, and thus, requires a
group of researchers who will be comfortable with methods that do not fall under their
expertise. In addition, this type of research is laborious.

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Research Limitations
The limitations of this study are –
 It depends on the Bunnings Australia to permit and collaborate with the researchers to
conduct the research.
 It is possible that the data gained from the employees and executives may not be
unbiased (Brinkmann 2014).
 The responses of the participants could also not lead to the expected outcome of the
study.
 The time is another important issue that limits the research work.
Research Plan
The following schedule has been planned for the proposed research -
Activities 1st to
3rd
Week
4th to
10th
week
11th to
13th
Week
14th to
17th
Week
18th to
21st
Week
22nd to
23rd
Week
24th
Week
Reviewing the
literature
– – – –
Acquiring the
NOC and
permission forms
–
Preparing the
interview
questions
–
Preparing the
survey
questionnaire
–

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Scheduling the
interviews and
survey
–
Analysis of the
collected data
– –
Interpretation of
the collected data
–
Findings of the
study
– –
Concluding the
study
–
Completing the
final writing
– –
Submission of the
Research
–
Conclusion
Online shopping is a growing phenomenon, and with the rate of technological
advancement and the usage o internet, it will be justified to say that online shopping would
only increase in the future. With increasing need of novel ways to build a sustainable
business, it is crucial to satisfy the customers as the primary stakeholder. Customer
satisfaction depends on the value they perceive in the offerings of the organisations. As
organisational profit depends of the number of customers, thereafter, the organisations must
provide valued service and products to the customers to retain them and increase their

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number. Hence, in conclusion, it can be said that online retailing must be considered as an
effective way to increase organisational profit.

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References
AlGhamdi, R. and Drew, S., 2012. Seven key drivers to online retailing growth in KSA.
arXiv preprint arXiv:1211.3148.
Brinkmann, S., 2014. Interview. In Encyclopedia of critical psychology (pp. 1008-1010).
Springer New York.
Bryman, A., 2017. Quantitative and qualitative research: further reflections on their
integration. In Mixing methods: Qualitative and quantitative research (pp. 57-78). Routledge.
Campbell, J. 2017. Insights from the company monitor: Wesfarmers. Equity, 31(8), 16.
Clemes, M.D., Gan, C. and Ren, M., 2011. Synthesizing the effects of service quality, value,
and customer satisfaction on behavioral intentions in the motel industry: An empirical
analysis. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 35(4), pp.530-568.
Clemons, E.K., Wilson, J., Matt, C., Hess, T., Ren, F., Jin, F. and Koh, N.S., 2016. Global
differences in online shopping behavior: Understanding factors leading to trust. Journal of
Management Information Systems, 33(4), pp.1117-1148.
Deng, Z., Lu, Y., Wei, K.K. and Zhang, J., 2010. Understanding customer satisfaction and
loyalty: An empirical study of mobile instant messages in China. International journal of
information management, 30(4), pp.289-300.
Farris, P.W., Bendle, N., Pfeifer, P. and Reibstein, D., 2010. Marketing metrics: The definitive
guide to measuring marketing performance. Pearson Education.
Greenland, S.J., Combe, I.A. and Farrell, A.M., 2016. Stakeholder preference and stated vs
derived importance satisfaction research. International Journal of Market Research, 58(1),
pp.35-55.
Heinemann, G. and Schwarzl, C., 2010. New online retailing: Innovation and transformation.
Springer Science & Business Media.

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West, D.C., Ford, J. and Ibrahim, E., 2015. Strategic marketing: creating competitive
advantage. Oxford University Press, USA.