مقاله سال ۲۰۱۷

The frequency and depth of the use of the Internet are increasing worldwide. It is used for many daily activities, from email communication or browsing for information, to entertainment and shopping. This growth has supposed business opportunities, opening up a vast new territory, which business are eager to explore, and resulting in more consumers and companies choosing the Internet as means of purchase and sale.

Among the different types of E-commerce, Business to Customer (B2C) technology covers those websites and transactions through which organisations sell goods and services to customers directly over the Internet. Efficiency and cost effectiveness of this technology have already transformed the web into a global environment for business. Nevertheless, consumers find many difficulties in the online purchasing processes that have to do with searching and browsing websites, evaluating and comparing products or with the payment process among others. All these inconveniences affect the satisfaction of customers with the B2C websites [01]. The study of consumer’s satisfaction plays a fundamental role in the survival and success of the company, given its impact on the repurchase behaviour and in the word-of-mouth recommendations (WOM). Moreover, higher consumer satisfaction degrees usually imply better commercial and financial results for the company [02]. Also, the dominance of internet as a shopping and distribution channel demands an understanding of e-service quality for online retailers to attract and retain online shoppers in this virtual environment [03].

According to the National Commission for Market and Competence annual report (2015), the areas of activity with the highest percentage of e-commerce turnover in Spain are: Travel agents and tour-operators (13.2%), Flights (10.3%), Textile-andfashion (TF) (7.8%) and Direct marketing (6%) [04]. Nevertheless, despite the growth of TF sector in recent years, we have not found extensive studies describing the online shopper profile in the TF Spanish market nor have we found valuation of their satisfaction regarding relevant e-service quality (eSQ) factors on B2C websites.