Online Shopping & Customer Satisfaction: A Case Study on M&S

This research project investigates the influence of online shopping on customer satisfaction, focusing on Marks and Spencer (M&S). The report begins with an introduction to online shopping and its impact on customer satisfaction, emphasizing the role of mobile commerce and the potential for M&S to enhance its online presence. The aim is to examine how online shopping affects customer satisfaction, supported by objectives including a literature review, primary research, and recommendations for M&S. The literature review explores various aspects of online shopping, including customer behavior, transaction issues, security concerns, and the importance of marketing strategies, advertising, and product quality. It also discusses factors like convenience, merchandising, and customer service, and their influence on customer satisfaction. The report also touches upon issues in online marketing, such as privacy, security, and ethical considerations. The research highlights the importance of factors such as product understanding, price, quality, and customer service in shaping online purchase decisions and overall customer satisfaction. The project concludes with reflections, conclusions, and recommendations for M&S to improve customer satisfaction through online shopping.

Research Project

Table of Contents
TITLE..............................................................................................................................................1
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................1
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................2
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ............................................................................6
CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION ...................................................12
CHAPTER 5: REFLECTION, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION...........................23
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................26

TITLE
Online shopping and customer satisfaction- A case on Marks and Spencer (M&S).
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Online shopping is considered as one of the interesting aspects of e commerce with the help
of which the customers can easily process the ordering, shopping of the products online. Also,
this can be termed as a feasible way that can provide a higher rate of satisfaction to the
customers. Mobile commerce is also classified as an essential concept involved in the process of
online shopping (Ramanathan, Subramanian and Parrott, 2017). It means placing orders online
by means of websites or applications. M&S can ensure to involve the specialised and advanced
features such as developing an application of their own which will be involving every essential
factor so that the customers can place orders while sitting in their home as well. This can also act
as an attractive feature to provide satisfaction to the customers.
There is a strong relationship between online shopping and customer satisfaction. The
involvement in online shopping can also help M&S to gain a higher rate of productivity and
popularity. There are different means of performing online shopping, so some well known and
basic ones can be involved by M&S in order to satisfy the customers. It is because this is obvious
that many times, the customer wants to purchase the materials but are not able to reach to the
store such as being lazy, or if stores are quite far etc. Therefore, for such times, ways of ordering
online such as by means of website or applications can act as a very feasible option for the
customers to place orders. Therefore, it can be said that involvement of different ways of online
shopping in M&S can actually help them to increase customers. Thus, it will further prove
beneficial enough for the company in achieving all their targets and goals by providing higher
rate of satisfaction to the customers.
Aim
To examine the way online shopping affects customer satisfaction
Objectives
 To review literature on online shopping and customer satisfaction
 To conduct primary research on online shopping and customer satisfaction
 To recommend how Marks and Spencer can use online shopping to increase customer
satisfaction.
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Research Questions
Q1. How does online shopping effect customer satisfaction?
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
According to the view of Tontini, da Silva and Marcon (2015) at present there are many
customers who are looking for ways to modernise their shopping. Therefore, customers incline to
want to get all products and services quickly without bargaining related to price and quality.
Thus, online shopping has become important consideration for customer who do not prefer to
visit retail stores for making purchase. For customers online shopping means to save time and
make easy purchase. It is considered as indoor shopping, which avoid chances of wasting time
and cost to visit from one shop to another. Along with this, customers can easily gain large
amount of information on company website related to products and services. They can also make
comparison between two brands on the basis of price, quality, features etc. Armstrong, Kotler
and Brennan (2015) argued that online shopping is not as much easer as it looks out. It is because
sometimes customer may face transaction issues due to its limitation. However, people still
believed that online transaction is not much secure to protect the payment method such as credit
card and disclosure of information. Similar to this, Zhuang, and Babin, (2015) state that,
customers may not get satisfied with the manner through which products and services are sold to
customers in the online environment. For instance, customer make purchase do not get deliver on
time even it is clearly return on it to deliver the products within 24 hours after payment.
Therefore, strategies which are used by marketers are not appropriate for addressing the
changing demand of customers for making sure customer satisfaction. The marketing function
has limited the scope of marketing strategies in order to operate online successfully (Pappas,
Pateli and Chrissikopoulos, (2014). These have changes redefined various old views of
marketing and power. In addition to this, investigators know that customer satisfaction is a
logical dimension of accomplishment in market interactions.
This section has discoursed upon the utility of advertisements which then increases
customer satisfaction. According to the view of Tontini, da Silva and Marcon, (2015) the
advertisements are in the shape of slam rectangular graphic image which is linked with the target
advertisement that lead to appear at the top of websites and provide a short contain related or
graphical message which can be customised for target audience. Zhuang and Babin (2015) state
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that for accomplishing success it companies need to carry out effective advertisement. Along
with this companies can have built websites while keeping customer services in mind.
Product quality has been discussed in this part where it will help to increase customer
satisfaction. Mainly customers get satisfied at the time when the provided services meet the
expectation of customers. Pappas, Pateli and Chrissikopoulos, (2014) state that customers get
dissatisfied when they feel that services fall below their expectation. Quality and customers
satisfaction have provided depth knowledge in order to determine the levels of satisfaction for
product experience. In e-commerce market customer experience and customer services are
considered as critical for sales. Product quality play important role in enhancing customers
satisfaction level.
Customer satisfaction play important role while making repeated purchase decision.
According to the view of Bilgihan, (2016), it is important for companies to focus on satisfying
customers through delivering them quality products and services. Liao, Lin, and Chea, (2017)
define customer satisfaction is when products and services sold to them meet their requirements
and expectation. Customers who are highly satisfied with companies’ products and services they
become loyal toward it and make a repeated purchase which leads to increase the profitability of
the company.
Bilgihan and Zhang (2016) state that to keep long-run presence on online websites it is
important to make an investment in enhancing customers satisfaction. Companies can consider
approaches for enhancing loyalty in an online context. The first approach is to focus on concrete
factors. For instance, firms who are selling a product online can focus on creating a convenient
and well-designed online store along with offering secure transaction are considered as keystones
for enhancing the satisfaction of e-customers. However, it can be stated that all online customers
do not become loyal. San-Martin, Prodanova and Jimenez, (2015) state that through
personalising attempts and enhancing the social value of online experience is very essential for
increasing customer satisfaction. However, Wu, Chen, and Cheng, (2014) with a distinct
consideration have argued that, in few studies it is identified that personalising the websites and
customer communities are highly influential but do not increase customer satisfaction
particularly for knowledgeable internet customers.
Besides this, companies who can create trust and enhance the perceived value of online
shopping can easily increase their satisfied customers into loyal ones. Ramanathan, Subramanian
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and Parrott, (2017). Elbeltagi and Agag (2016). state that online market provides so many
opportunities to create loyalty as compared to offline offerings.
Issues in online marketing
Orel and Kara, (2014) state that online marketing has become a new path for examining
various traditional principles, and theories of marketing with various perspectives. There are
various studies that has provided online marketing issues. The internet is designed to be
environment accommodating a free flow of communications which might affect customer
satisfaction. In online selling products and services ethical issues can raise when personal
information of customers is not kept confidentially which might affect customer satisfaction.
Privacy is considered as one of the most common mentioned problems in online marketing
which might be a threat to customer satisfaction. Most of the time power of technology can be
intentionally abused by marketers with the purpose of making improvement in market
knowledge and response mechanisms which might affect customer satisfaction.
Customers have to provide up some privacy for exchange the benefits of the web. It leads
to create tendency for discussing the way consumers can easily protected and companies could
reduce privacy and security issues of individuals. It is important for companies to focus on
wining trust of customers and increase their trust through providing secure payment options
which help in winning their trust thereby increasing customer satisfaction. There are few reasons
due to which customers are dissatisfied from the online shopping.
First, there are hackers who steal all the personal information provided by the customers.
Most people are concerned related to internet security at the time of providing their credit card
details.
Second, Orel and Kara, (2014) state that at the time when a company designs its websites
in an inappropriate manner and which lead to creating difficulty for customers while searching
products then they may avoid making a purchase from such websites.
Third, at the time when customers regular received emails, newsletter without their
permission then it leads to making them irritate and dissatisfy.
Fourth, at the time when customer’s issues are not resolved on time then it leads to
making them dissatisfy from company products and services.
According to Tontini, da Silva and Marcon, (2015) online shopping for customers means
saving cost and time, purchasing best products and easily accessible thereby increasing customer
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satisfaction. On the other side, customer satisfaction is dependent on the purchase of the product
which can be met their expectation. While making online shopping factors which create barrier
can make customers dissatisfied from the particular company products. It is essential for a firm
to ensure that while providing an online facility where people can easily make purchase.
According to Zhuang and Babin, (2015) privacy (technology factor), convenience
(shopping factor), merchandising (product factor) which is followed by trust, quality, and
delivery of products. Security is considered as one of the important factors at the time when
customer has made decision of selecting the online shopping option. Tontini, da Silva and
Marcon, (2015) identified price as a factor that can attract customers and retain them. Zhuang
and Babin, (2015) state that customers can make purchase of product and services they received
it in lower price as compared to other companies. While online shopping customers are more
curious about their product as because it looks attractive on internet. However, at the time of
receiving they may be dissatisfied because of quality or slight change in colour of products.
Apart from this, if customers query is not resolved in time then it lead to make them dissatisfy.
Having unanswered questions while making online purchase might decrease customer
satisfaction. It is essential for customer services to answer their questions on time which help in
making their purchase easier, thereby increasing customer satisfaction.
Different factors which can influence customers online purchase decisions are product
understanding, price, quality, product variety etc which increase customers satisfaction,
Customer services: Assurance and reliability, vendor responsiveness
Shopping experience: Attribute of time, effort, lifestyle compatibility, product availability
Customer’s risk: for instance, social, economical, personal and privacy risk. Customers mostly
focus on shopping from other sites, till the received product on time as per their requirements.
It is a wander or a cost when customers contributing their vitality making purchases. It
requires a lot of venture for a customer to make purchases from shop to shop, hence electronic
shopping saves a lot of their significant time and effort. The time spent accept a basic part in
buyer perceptions especially the time used for shopping. Zhuang and Babin, (2015) have raised
that holding up influenced a negative impact on customer to profit satisfaction. Clients' chance
will be wasted an incredible arrangement if need to keep sitting tight for such a long time and
verifiably will establish the buyers have awful connections to the merchant or association. Time
and essentialness saving are in a comparable thought (Tontini, da Silva and Marcon, 2015). Time
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and effort accept an imperative part in light of the fact that these two components may impact
buyers' solace in the midst of shopping. Electronic shopping positively can help purchasers with
sparing time and effort in purchasing process by bringing a huge amount of settlement.
Convenience factor implies that it is definitely not hard to scrutinize or look through the
information through online is less requesting than the standard retail shopping. Through on the
web, purchasers can without a lot of an extend request thing record yet if the buyer look overall
for a comparable thing or thing in a customary store physically it is difficult to visit physically
and dreary as well. Convenience has reliably been a prime factor for customers to shop on the
web. Bilgihan and Zhang, (2016) said that online clients pass on various points of interest similar
to convenience, for instance, less repetitive, flexibility, less physical effort et cetera. Pappas,
Pateli and Chrissikopoulos, (2014). claims that solace as a champion among the most basic
favored viewpoint for participating in online shopping. As showed by the Robinson, Bilgihan,
(2016) the genuine motivation for online purchasing is influence in regards to shop at whatever
point and having packs of things passed on at passage step
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction
Research methodology is considered as one of the essential parts in research as because it
helps in completing research with the use of various tools and techniques. It can be stated that it
is a solution for the specific issues through which the research can be measured in a systematic
manner (Kerr, Eckert and Wandwabwa, 2016). There are several methods under the research
methodology section which can be employed by investigator for carrying out research. Along
with this, through the help of this assessment can be done for the sake of respondents towards the
questions in the research. The present research is based on examining the way online shopping
affects customer satisfaction, therefore various methods are selected which are appropriate for
the current research. Here below are provided different tools and techniques with justification.
Type of investigation:
It is reflected as type of research which is conducted by investigator. It is considered of two
types qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative investigation is applied at the time when data
analysis is carried out with thematic techniques (Wright, Wahoush. and Jack, 2016). It is
considered as a situation in which the individual behaviour is required to be outlined. In contrary
to this, quantitative research design is applied at the time when analysis of data is being done
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through the help of statistical tools. This act as obtaining valid outcome in systematic manner. In
the present thesis aim is to examine the way online shopping affects customer satisfaction of
Marks and Spencer, qualitative tool will be applied. Reason for choosing this technique is that it
will help in developing depth understanding related to the selected research in a thematic form.
Research Philosophy
Research philosophy is one of the important components in research methodology and assist
in understanding the study as a principle with the help of which data and information could be
collected in relation to analyse the study (Bailly and Comino, 2017). One of the main researches
to conduct study is to accomplished to desired results. Hence it is considered as one of the
effective forms to carry out the study and gain proper results. Epistemology is known as brand of
research philosophy which includes the nature and scope of knowledge. It assists in gaining
enquiry about various kinds of information on the selected topic to be accomplished.
Epistemology state that knowledge is considered as true within every framework and it is not
varied from situation to situation. Research philosophy is classified into two types that are
interpretivism and positivism. For the present research interpretivism research philosophy will be
considered by the researcher. It is supportive at the time of choosing qualitative set of data for
examining the study (Mebius, Kennedy and Howick, 2016). Reason to choose this philosophy is
that to focus on gathering important information and acquire meaningful information for
understanding impact of online shopping on customer satisfaction.
Research approach:
The concept of research approach can be stated as the manner through which the investigator
conducts the research ahead. It is a proper plan which improved validity of the investigation to a
greater extent. It is classified into two type inductive and deductive approach (Winit‐Watjana,
2016). The deductive approach leads to start with the statement and research is carried out for the
sake of responding towards the research. On the other side, inductive approach focusses on
investigating from particular condition for developing various general idea and theories in
regards subject matter under research. The present research is based on examining the way
online shopping affects customer satisfaction, therefore inductive approach will be adopted by
the research. Reason for selecting this approach is that it is suitable in attainment of valid
outcomes. Along with this it is appropriate to offer support through acquiring the views for the
help of perceiving the particular subject (Creswell and Poth, 2017).
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Research design:
Research design is known as systematic process for presenting the findings which is collected
from different sources. It is classified into three types that are descriptive, exploratory and
explanatory (Edson, Henning and Sankaran, 2016). Exploratory research design is considered as
effective as because it helps in discovering the issues which are covered in the study. While
exploratory focus on exploring the issues, which help in providing valid outcome for reaching
the aims and objectives. Through this, the investigator can easily find out causes and effect
relationship. Under this, investigator can easily identify impact of one factor on other one. For
the present study descriptive research design will be considered by the researcher. It is
considered as one of the effective methods which help in describing the population covered in
the study. The rationale for selecting this research design is that it will help in presenting the
results in an effective manner with depth knowledge. It is critically evaluated that other research
design are not selected because the present topic was already covered in various previous studies.
Thus, owing this research design is proven to be effective for obtaining valid outcome (Tight,
2016).
Data collection method:
Data collection is considered as essential chapter that help in demonstrating important tool
through which the research can gathered various types of information. There are two kinds of
data collection tools that can be used by investigator that are primary and secondary (Toye,
Williamson and Lamb, 2016). To carryout the present research based on examining the way
online shopping affects customer satisfaction, primary as well as secondary method of data
collection will be adopted by the investigator. Primary method assists in collecting information
which is new and gathered at the time of carrying out research. It is considered as specific
information that assist in making research highly reliable (Cooper, Desjardins and Croll, 2016.).
Different method under primary from where information and data can be gathered are interview,
survey, observation, etc. On the other side, secondary method is sued for gathering information
which is incorporated by various authors in their books and journals. It is considered as second-
hand tool for gathering information. Information can be gathered through books, internet,
journals and articles. For the present research primary information will be gathered through
survey. In this, question will be asked from customers of Marks and Spencer. While for
collecting the secondary information, research will be considered different published articles and
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books of different authors which are based on the selected topic. Reason for selecting primary
method is that it helps in getting depth knowledge about the opinion of customers on the selected
topic.
Sampling:
For researcher it is not easy to carry out the research from large number of populations. For
this purpose, sampling method need to be adopted at the time of applying primary method. For
primary research, it is important for researcher to selected appropriate sample size (Toye,
Williamson and Lamb, 2016). There are two methods for data collection that are random and
non-random sampling. In random sampling method every unit of population is provided equal
chances of being selected. On the other side in non-random sampling method, it is divided into
judgement sampling. Further it leads to make sure that every people in a population has a non-
zero probability to get selected. For the present research random sampling method will be used
by investigator. Here 50 customers of Marks and Spencer will be selected through survey.
Reason behind choosing random sampling method is that it will help in minimising the chances
of bias. Along with this each respondent will be provided equal chance of being selected for the
survey. Therefore, it can be stated that sampling is one of the effective tools which can be
considered by the for selecting the sample population from large number of populations.
Data analysis:
After gathering information from different sources data analysis is considered as important
part in which raw data is converted into meaningful information. It is considered as essential
aspect in the research effective as well as examined that data which is being assess through
sources of data collected through primary and secondary information (Bathelt and Glückler,
2017). It helps in analysing the gathered information in such as way which is critical for getting
right results. There are two tools that can be considered by the researcher that are qualitative and
quantitative.
In quantitative data analysis a researcher is expected to turn raw data into a meaningful data
with the help of critical thinking and effective application. It leads to include calculation of
frequencies of variables and identify difference between variables. Under this method different
statistical tools can be applied by investigator such as Z-test, Chi-square test etc for analysing the
results. On the other side in qualitative data is considered as non-numeric information for
instance, interview, notes, video, audio recording, transcript etc. it is divided into different
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categories such as content analysis, discourse analysis etc. Under this method researcher can
focus on thematic perception for carrying out the research. For the present research qualitative
technique will be considered by the investigator (Peter, Werner and Alavi, 2017). Here,
researcher will prepare various themes on the basis of results and interpretation will be done.
Along with this different charts and tables will be prepare for supporting the findings. The reason
behind selecting this method is that it will help in presenting the findings in a systematic manner
and assist in conducting depth analysis.
Ethical consideration:
Ethics are essential for the research methodology because no study can be completed without
considered ethics, Therefore, it is essential to focus on time for approaching the potential
respondents (Médici and Allen, 2016). Prior approval needs to be taken from respondents before
involving them in survey. Along with this reason for conducting the survey need to be made
clear so that appropriate information can be gathered from them. All the personal information
provided by participants need to be kept safe and secure so that no other person can misuse it. In
addition to this information should be destroyed after use or fixed period of time. Apart from this
information collected from secondary sources need to be properly cited along with evidence. It
leads to determine ethical aspect and assist researcher to meet the objectives in an effective
manner.
Research limitation:
Various types of limitation which are faced by investigator at the time of carrying out
research. It is essential that appropriate steps are undertaken to overcome them as it will lead to
reduce the limitation. Here below are some limitation which can be considered by investigator
that are as follows:
Limitation of time and cost: At the time of carrying out research there are various activities
which need to be completed on time. If delay in one activity done can impact the entire research.
Along with this it can also increase the cost of the research (Médici and Allen, 2016).
ACTION PLAN
To complete the present research that is based on examining the way online shopping
affects customer satisfaction, the scholar needs to make Gantt chart. It is one of the appropriate
methods for scheduling each activity of research within a provided time frame. It will help the
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