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Exploring the drivers, scope and perceived success of e-commerce strategies in the UK retail sector

journal contribution
posted on 2012-07-26, 11:48 authored by Neil Doherty, Fiona Ellis-ChadwickFiona Ellis-Chadwick
Purpose - The purpose of this study is to explore empirically the relationship between the scope of the e-commerce strategies currently being deployed by the largest and most influential UK-based retailers, the drivers for their adoption, and perhaps most importantly the degree to which they are perceived to be successful.Design/methodology/approach The objectives of this research were addressed by using a quantitative research strategy, based on a postal questionnaire survey of the UK's largest retailers. The research strategy produced a wealth of primary data, which were thoroughly analysed using a variety of multivariate, statistical techniques.Findings - The study's findings suggest that the scope of the retailers' e-commerce strategies is strongly associated with the strength of management support behind the strategy and its perceived strategic fit. By contrast, the perceived success of their strategies is most strongly associated with the degree to which the retailer has deployed a portfolio of appropriate resources and capabilities, in support of its online operations.Research limitations/implications - The major limitation associated with the study is with respect to the rather disappointing response rate of 10 per cent. However. this level of response is similar to many previous surveys in this domain, and it is probably not surprising, given the commercially sensitive nature of the data. Moreover, the extensive phone-based follow-tip of non-respondents has provided an important reassurance that any resultant bias is likely to have only a modest effect on the results.Practical implications - The findings highlight that, despite their close relationship, the scope of an e-commerce strategy and its success are rather different entities, and therefore the factors that affect the scope of adoption cannot be relied on to deliver success In particular, retailer managers must recognise that, while their support and commitment may well be the impetus necessary to deliver a wide-ranging strategy, its ultimate success may be dependent on their ability to deploy a suitable portfolio of resources and capabilitiesOriginality/value - The study makes a major contribution in a number of ways. It provides one of the first attempts to measure the relationship between the drivers, scope and perceived success of e-commerce strategies, and, in so doing, it delivers an objective comparison between those factors that affect the scope and the success of e-commerce strategies Moreover, important new measures of e-commerce scope and success have been developed and deployed.

History

School

  • Business and Economics

Department

  • Business

Published in

European Journal of Marketing

Volume

43

Issue

9 - 10

Pages

1246 - 1262

Citation

DOHERTY, N. and ELLIS-CHADWICK, F., 2009. Exploring the drivers, scope and perceived success of e-commerce strategies in the UK retail sector. European Journal of Marketing , 43 (9-10), pp. 1246 - 1262

Publisher

Emerald Group Publishing Ltd

Version

  • VoR (Version of Record)

Rights holder

© Emerald Group Publishing Ltd

Acceptance date

2008-08-01

Publication date

2009-09-18

Copyright date

2009

Notes

This article is closed access, it was published in the serial European Journal of Marketing [© Emerald Group Publishing Inc]. The definitive version is available at: https://doi.org/10.1108/03090560910976474

ISSN

0309-0566

Language

  • en

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