SBM1300 - E-commerce Market in Australia: Influencing Attributes

This report examines the Australian e-commerce market, focusing on attributes that influence customer satisfaction and loyalty. It begins with an introduction to the growing e-commerce landscape in Australia, highlighting its economic impact and the evolving expectations of online shoppers. The rationale emphasizes the importance of understanding customer satisfaction in the face of increasing online spending and changing demands. The problem statement identifies the need to analyze factors affecting customer satisfaction and loyalty within the Australian e-commerce sector. The research aims to identify factors influencing e-commerce businesses, pinpoint issues faced by customers during online shopping, and recommend strategies for resolution. The literature review explores the concept of e-commerce, its benefits, limitations, and driving forces, including market pressures, societal influences, and technological advancements. Finally, the research methodology outlines the approach to data collection and analysis, including research philosophy, design, and ethical considerations, setting the stage for investigating customer opinions and experiences in the Australian online marketplace. Desklib provides access to similar reports and study resources for students.

Running head: E-COMMERCE MARKET IN AUSTRALIA- ATTRIBUTES INFLUENCING
CUSTOMERS
E-commerce market in Australia- Attributes Influencing Customers
Name of the Student
Name of the University

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E-COMMERCE MARKET IN AUSTRALIA- ATTRIBUTES INFLUENCING CUSTOMERS
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................................4
1.1 Background.......................................................................................................................4
1.2 Rationale...........................................................................................................................6
1.3 Problem statement.............................................................................................................8
1.4 Aim, Objectives and Research questions..........................................................................8
Chapter 2: Literature Review...........................................................................................................9
2.1 Concept of E-commerce........................................................................................................9
2.2 Benefits and limitation of e-commerce..................................................................................9
2.3 Driving forces of E-Commerce...........................................................................................11
Chapter 3: Research Methodology............................................................................................13
3.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................13
3.2 Research philosophy............................................................................................................13
3.3 Research approach...............................................................................................................14
3.4 Research design...................................................................................................................14
3.5 Data collection.....................................................................................................................15
3.6 Data analysis techniques......................................................................................................16
3.7 Population and test...............................................................................................................17
3.8 Ethical contemplations.........................................................................................................17
3.8 Research limitations.............................................................................................................18

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E-COMMERCE MARKET IN AUSTRALIA- ATTRIBUTES INFLUENCING CUSTOMERS
References......................................................................................................................................21

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E-COMMERCE MARKET IN AUSTRALIA- ATTRIBUTES INFLUENCING CUSTOMERS
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Background
The advances in the internet technology has been glorifying the market in many aspects. The
population over the internet has been increasing continuously. The World Web Wide (WWW)
users have been multiplying rapidly over the internet (Rahayu and Day 2015). Various
organizations have been transferring their business over the internet. The e-commerce businesses
have been growing rapidly in many countries including Australia. The Australian e-commerce
market been capitalizing the economy of the country. The Australian economy has broken
various records in past history. This achievement of long term economic expansion has created a
strong retail environment (Ashraf et al. 2017). The expectation sand needs of the Australian
customers have been maintained by organizations over the year. The online shopping has been
prevailing in the market.

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E-COMMERCE MARKET IN AUSTRALIA- ATTRIBUTES INFLUENCING CUSTOMERS
Figure 1: Number of different types of e-commerce activities performed in the last six
months
(Source: Mathews et al. 2016)
The growth in online customers have given rise in the e-commerce industry in the country.
The development of e-commerce has been part of the world-wide phenomenon that has shown
impact on the market. Companies have been increasing pressure for adopting e-commerce for
retaining their existence over the internet. Various young generation people have been using
online services over the internet (Gregory, Ngo and Karavdic 2017). A new generation of
consumers have been reshaping the face of online shopping. In Australia, people between 18 to
36 ages demographic have been active over the internet and becoming new consumers of online
shopping system. The population of young generation have been increasing all over the
Australia. Therefore, demand of e-commerce have been increasing in the Australian market.

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E-COMMERCE MARKET IN AUSTRALIA- ATTRIBUTES INFLUENCING CUSTOMERS
However, satisfaction of customers have been major aspect for all the organization over the
internet. However, various factors have been stimulation dissatisfaction among customers in the
Australian market. These factors have been discussed in the research study (Hamad et al. 2015).
Various new companies and small and medium enterprises have not been able to satisfy their
customers over the e-commerce industry. This has been one of the factor of customer
dissatisfaction among customers.
1.2 Rationale
The Australian e-commerce market has been a growing one in recent years. The ecommerce
market has been able to generate economy for the government of the country. Australians have
spent $21.3 billion money by purchasing online goods (Gu et al. 2018). There has been growth in
the purchasing behavior of customers in the Australian market. The concept of e-commerce has
been new model in the country. Therefore, the craze of the e-commerce has been high in the
market. Customers have been purchasing clothes and other items from online. The online market
of Australia has been increasing in daily basis. However, the customer satisfaction has been a big
factor that needs to be generalized. Customer satisfaction level has been continuously changing
in the scenario (Altameem and Almakki 2017). The demands and expectations of customers
have been changing all the time. Therefore, organizations have not been able to meet
requirements of the customers.

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E-COMMERCE MARKET IN AUSTRALIA- ATTRIBUTES INFLUENCING CUSTOMERS
Figure 2: Adoption of e-commerce of different usage by internet users
(Source: Mathews et al. 2016)
Customer dissatisfaction has been a major factor in the online shopping market in
Australia. Satisfaction level of customer have been based upon several factors. The e-commerce
market has been able to engage and influence customers on the market. The online delivery
system has been helping customers to receive their order at their doorsteps (Suder, Wu and
SMEsOI 2017). However, there have been some issues faced with the quality and quantity of
items and ordered and recovered. Therefore, customer satisfaction level has been going down in
the market,

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E-COMMERCE MARKET IN AUSTRALIA- ATTRIBUTES INFLUENCING CUSTOMERS
This research has focused on the factors affecting the customer satisfaction in e-commerce
sites. Business organizations have been focusing on the development of customer engagement
model in the market. This paper investigate about the opinions of customers towards buying
items from online stores. The factors influencing the customers over the online stores have been
discussed in the research.
1.3 Problem statement
The main problem discussed in the research has been the factors affecting the customer
satisfaction and loyalty towards e-commerce businesses in Australia. This research has focuses
in measuring and analyzing the satisfaction level of customers on purchasing goods from online
store in Australia. The influencing factors for customers towards online stores have been
discussed. The factors affecting customer loyalty and satisfaction have been analysed.
1.4 Aim, Objectives and Research questions
The aim of the research has been analyzing factors affecting customer satisfaction and loyalty
towards e-commerce business in Australia.
Following are the objectives of the research:
 To identify factors imposing good or bad influences on e-commerce business
 To identify issues faced by customer on online shopping in Australia
 To recommend strategies for resolving these issues related to e-commerce business
Following are the research questions:
 What factors have been imposing good or bad influences on e-commerce business?
 What are the issues faced by customer on online shopping in Australia?
 How these issues related to e-commerce business can be resolved?

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1.5 Research Structure
Figure 3: Research structure
(Source: Created by Author)
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Literature Review
Chapter 3: Research Methodology
Chapter 4: Data Findings and Analysis
Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendation

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Chapter 2: Literature Review
2.1 Concept of E-commerce
As commented by Sin et al. (2016), E-commerce refers to new emerging technical
concept that has been changing the face of selling and purchasing of goods in the market. The
scope of the e-commerce has been capitalizing in the market. The technical perspective of the e-
commerce can be described as electronic trading for conducting business transaction rather than
any other forms of business including face to face exchange. As suggested by O’Neill (2016),
electronic commerce refers to various range of business that has been maintained by the
utilization of internet access. The use of e-commerce business has been maintaining keen
approach to the expansion of various business organization in the market. The concept of e-
commerce has been similar to e-business. As stated by Zeng and Richardson (2016), it is the
utilization of online facilities provided by various organization that enables buyers for
communicating with seller in order to perform their business. As argued by Marcus, Petropoulos
and Jitsuzumi (2017), there are still differences between e-commerce and e-business in a broader
concept.
2.2 Benefits and limitation of e-commerce
The development of e-commerce has been providing various benefits to the customers in the
market. As commented by Yu et al. (2016), electronic commerce has been a significant
innovation that encompasses with several benefits to the organization and customers. For
organization, Electronic commerce have been helping in expansion of business in the market.
Companies are able to locate their customers easily with the help of electronic commerce. On the
other hand, the physical stores have been limited to certain geographical area. The e-commerce

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has helped in expanding the business worldwide. The internet has helped in the expansion of
different companies in the market. Most of the young generation people has been active over the
internet and prefer to buy their goods from online media (Adebanjo et al. 2016). Therefore, e-
commerce has been helping in gathering information about different customers at a time. The
availability of goods have been increased with the integration of e-commerce. The electronic
commerce has helped in making business with customer easier than earlier. As commented by
Cao, Yan and Li (2016), the competition among companies have been I creased with the increase
in popularity of e-commerce. Therefore, customers have been getting benefit of this competition
as companies are competing for providing best quality product to customer. Australians have
spent $21.3 billion money by purchasing online goods (Qiang et al. 2017). There has been
growth in the purchasing behavior of customers in the Australian market. Customers have been
purchasing clothes and other items from online. From social point of view, e-commerce have
helped in door step delivery of good and customers have not go far too physical stores for
purchasing their product. The use of the e-commerce has been changing the lifestyle of the
customers. There have been various options available for the customers to buy from. There have
been various similar kind of products available over the e-commerce websites and companies
that have been helping in getting proper product according to their choices (Fabinyi 2018). The
concept of e-commerce has been new model in the country. Therefore, the craze of the e-
commerce has been high in the market. The delivery of products have been rapid and fact with
the implementation of e-commerce on the market. On the other side, there have been several
limitations of electronic commerce in the market. These limitations can be categorized into two
types including technical and non-technical categories. There have been various technical
limitations involved in the development of e-commerce including security, reliability and other

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lacks in system. The software development tools have not been updated properly. Therefore,
there have been various issues faced during the payment of items over the payment gateway
(Zhang, Zuo and Zheng 2016). Customers have been facing issues during payment of their goods
purchased form online sites. Some of the software do not fit with hardware. There have been
various non-technical issues faced. The cost of constructing e-commerce house has been very
high and some mistakes can cause huge loss to economy. In many cases, customers want to
physically touch the product before purchasing. This is not possible in the case of e-commerce.
Therefore, it becomes difficult to change their perspective from physical to virtual purchasing
and paperless transaction.
2.3 Driving forces of E-Commerce
There have been huge increase in the number of online customers over the internet. The business
environment in the market has been becoming competitive in nature. Therefore, the business
pressure can be categorized into three parts including market, societal and technological.
However, these factors have been have been changing quickly and frequent problems have been
generating. Business drivers have been creating pressure from market, societal and technological
aspects on organization (Giuffrida et al. 2017). Market and economic pressures have been
coming from the strong competition faced in the market due to the implementation of e-
commerce. The political changes in the market have been affecting the influence of customer in
the market. The change in the trend have been affecting the purchasing behavior of customers in
the market. The customers have been ready for paying on online goods. The diplomatic criteria
of the online businesses have been successfully implemented with the change in concept of e-
commerce. The technological aspect of the e-commerce have been positive as there have been