An Empirical Study on the Integrated Framework of e-CRM in Online Shopping

TLDR

Online shopping relies on customer cognitive, affective, and conative experiences, making e‑CRM essential for sustaining long‑term retailer relationships. This study develops a conceptual e‑CRM framework to explain how customers maintain long‑term exchange relationships with specific online retailers. The framework links perceived value, satisfaction, and trust to customer commitment, and incorporates perceived service quality, product quality, and price fairness as exogenous variables. Empirical testing largely supports the framework’s causal linkages and offers managerial implications for effective e‑CRM strategy implementation.

Abstract

Based on customer cognitive, affective and conative experiences in Internet online shopping, this study, from customers’ perspectives, develops a conceptual framework for e-CRM to explain the psychological process that customers maintain a long-term exchange relationship with specific online retailer. The conceptual framework proposes a series of causal linkages among the key variables affecting customer commitment to specific online retailer, such as perceived value (as cognitive belief), satisfaction (as affective experience) and trust (as conative relationship intention). Three key exogenous variables affecting Internet online shopping experiences, such as perceived service quality, perceived product quality, and perceived price fairness, are integrated into the framework. This study empirically tested and supported a large part of the proposed framework and the causal linkages within it. The empirical results highlight some managerial implications for successfully developing and implementing a strategy for e-CRM.