Guest editorial: Special issue introduction: e-tailing: the current landscape and future developments

Citation

Thaichon, P., Brown, J.R. and Weaven, S. (2021), "Guest editorial: Special issue introduction: e-tailing: the current landscape and future developments", Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, Vol. 33 No. 6, pp. 1289-1291. https://doi.org/10.1108/APJML-07-2021-881

Overview

In this special issue “E-tailing: the current landscape and future developments”, the Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics presents a series of papers covering topics to gain a better understanding of online shopping behaviour, marketing management, strategic marketing and relating theories in the electronic retailing context. The Internet has had a significant influence on customers' shopping process and behaviour (Thaichon, 2017; Thaichon et al., 2020). The increasing interest in online shopping has prompted many companies to move into cyberspace (Elms et al., 2016) and firm-initiated activities via social media (Quach et al., 2021). The Internet allows retailers to grow and delivers a unique opportunity to expand their business and provide new customer experience. For example, shop via mobile app technology (Vahdat et al., 2021), omnichannel retailing (Quach et al., 2020), shared economy (Thaichon et al., 2020) and augmented reality (Chylinski et al., 2020).

In general, the Internet has been used in three main ways to facilitate online retail marketing. First, the Internet is a means of communicating information about the service provider, its products and its services (Pascoe et al., 2017; Thaichon and Quach, 2016). Second, the Internet functions as a marketing tool as it enables customers to interact with retailers and other customers, and assists their purchase decision-making process (Pappas, 2016). Finally, it involves selling products online and facilitating transactions between retailers and consumers (Jain et al., 2017). In addition, e-tailing offers an experience that is totally different from brick-and-mortar stores (Elms et al., 2016). Customers are empowered and enabled to take part in an innovative shopping model where they can seek, inspect, compare and purchase a product or service without leaving their own personal space. This unique feature reduces shopping risks and has reshaped the shopping environment for many consumers and business capabilities (Elms et al., 2016). The special issue focuses on three major themes of e-tailing: online retail management, consumers’ e-shopping behaviour and channel adoption behaviour.

Opening this e-tailing special issue, “E-commerce structures for retail and service franchises: e-commerce implementation in mature franchise systems” by Kremez, Frazer, Weaven and Quach contributes to the current knowledge related to online retail management. Their article on the structures of ecommerce presents an in-depth investigation into the internal process of e-commerce implementation in franchise networks from both franchisor and franchisee perspectives in their study. As a result of their enquiry, the authors develop a preliminary model for e-commerce structures in service and retail franchising depending on the nature of the business, the distribution arrangements and the order fulfilment arrangements.

Consumers’ online shopping behaviour is examined in “Determinants of tier 2 Indian consumer’s online shopping attitude: a SEM approach” by Kaur and Thakur reveals that technology readiness, consumer innovativeness, fondness for branded products and perceived brand unavailability are determinants of online shopping attitude. Furthermore, “E-commerce brand: the effect of perceived brand leadership on consumers’ satisfaction and repurchase intention on e-commerce websites” by Chiu and Cho applies the concept of brand leadership in the e-commerce setting by addressing the differential consumption decision-making process. In addition, the paper finds that different gender and age groups demonstrate unique preferences and consumption patterns.

Channel adoption behaviour is highlighted in “Solo economy in Taiwan: a quality study of click-and-mortar malls” by Liang. The study shows that service quality, corporate image and customer loyalty are strongly connected in both solitary and social customers in the context of click-and-mortar malls. Furthermore, Park and Kim examine the antecedents of consumers’ omnichannel adoption intention and explore how consumers’ personality trait affects their omnichannel adoption behaviour in their article “The effects of integrated information & service, institutional mechanism and need for cognition (NFC) on consumer omnichannel adoption behavior”. Finally, “Leveraging the technology acceptance model for mobile commerce adoption under distinct stages of adoption: a case of micro businesses” by Pipitwanichakarn and Wongtada sheds light on how service providers can tailor their marketing strategies to target vendors in disparate diffusion stages.

Lastly, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to all authors who submitted their work to this special issue “E-tailing: the current landscape and future developments” of the Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics and to all reviewers who provided their service to ensure the quality of the special issue. We have received over 40 submissions, but only chose six papers following a rigorous review process to include in this special issue. The end result represents a deep thought-provoking edition for the journal.