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  • 标题:Top 250 global retailers: on-line features of retailer websites.
  • 作者:Anitsal, Ismet ; Anitsal, M. Meral ; Girard, Tulay
  • 期刊名称:Journal of International Business Research
  • 印刷版ISSN:1544-0222
  • 出版年度:2011
  • 期号:January
  • 语种:English
  • 出版社:The DreamCatchers Group, LLC
  • 摘要:As the number of Internet users reached almost 194 million in the U.S. (eMarketer 2009) and 1.6 billion in the world by the end of 2008 (Internet World Stats 2009), online retailers seek to offer new features on their web sites to attract and serve online shoppers better and compete effectively. Increased access by Internet users does not necessarily mean increased acceptance of visual displays (St. Amant, 2005) or use of web sites. According to St Amant (2005, p. 77), "the presence or absence of a single design feature can be enough to affect the credibility of an image or of an overall web site." Therefore, an analytical framework that suggests a systematic approach to analyzing global web sites could increase both the acceptance and use of the retailers' web sites. One particular tool that can serve as a useful framework is the online components of the marketing mix, the company and its customer service (Girard, Anitsal and Anitsal 2008).
  • 关键词:Consulting services;Credit and debit card industry;Credit card industry;Customer service;Education parks;Educational facilities;Gift cards;Internet;Retail industry;Retail trade;School facilities;Web sites;Web sites (World Wide Web)

Top 250 global retailers: on-line features of retailer websites.


Anitsal, Ismet ; Anitsal, M. Meral ; Girard, Tulay 等


INTRODUCTION

As the number of Internet users reached almost 194 million in the U.S. (eMarketer 2009) and 1.6 billion in the world by the end of 2008 (Internet World Stats 2009), online retailers seek to offer new features on their web sites to attract and serve online shoppers better and compete effectively. Increased access by Internet users does not necessarily mean increased acceptance of visual displays (St. Amant, 2005) or use of web sites. According to St Amant (2005, p. 77), "the presence or absence of a single design feature can be enough to affect the credibility of an image or of an overall web site." Therefore, an analytical framework that suggests a systematic approach to analyzing global web sites could increase both the acceptance and use of the retailers' web sites. One particular tool that can serve as a useful framework is the online components of the marketing mix, the company and its customer service (Girard, Anitsal and Anitsal 2008).

This study examines and analyzes the web sites of the top 250 global retailers and tests which features significantly contribute to company's sales revenues and earnings, number of store formats, and number of countries they operate in. The web site features are classified into product, place, promotion, price, company, and customer service groups to provide a framework to serve as a design checklist to create an effective commercial web site (Table 1). Next, relevant literature on effective web design features under each group is presented followed by methodology, results, discussions, and suggestions for future research.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Product

According to Adam et al. (2002), a web site should match the organization's objectives with regard to offering its products and services. Girard, Anitsal and Anitsal (2008) also confirmed that a web site should meet the strategic objectives of a company with regard to its marketing mix (i.e., product, place, promotion, and price) and product positioning. Huarng and Christopher (2003) emphasized the importance of information search in a commercial web site design and supported that web sites should contain a site map, a product index, and a product search function. In a similar study, Taylor and England (2006) concluded that the more accessible the content relating to products and services on a company web site, the more likely the products and services will be purchased. Such product and service related content includes product and service description, gift registry, wish list, learning center in which educational information with regard to the use of the product and service is provided (e.g., recipes, articles, demonstrations), and matching or suggesting alternative products function by the web site's interactive shopping aid (Table 2). A study by Forrester Research found that 54 percent of U.S. online shoppers notice product recommendations on web sites, and 34 percent make purchases based on these recommendations (Internet Retailer 2009).

Distribution

Another important component of the marketing mix, distribution or place, may involve physical distribution of the product or service from one supplier to another supplier or customer, and the distribution of product related information. On a web site, a shopping cart is usually the function that starts the actual purchase transaction. Order fulfillment refers to the delivery of a product or service initiated by an order placed by a customer and an essential step in the transaction process (Bart et al. 2005). An online purchase transaction also involves providing information on a web site that consumers would seek such as return policy, delivery time, order tracking, option to cancel an order, shipping cost/free shipping, alternative order delivery methods, and interactive shopping aid or advice feature such as AJAX, tagging, and other forms of instantaneous customer feedback (Fry 2006; Girard, Anitsal and Anitsal 2008) that informs and guides a user toward solutions related to problems and issues the user encounters on a web site (Bart et al. 2005).

Promotion

As e-commerce has emerged as one of the most cost effective ways of doing business in today's unstable global marketplace, online promotions have gained much attention. As part of their strategy, some of the online promotions that companies usually offer include gift cards, a company credit card and/or store card, coupons, special offers and discounts, and rebates. An increasing number of retailers are selling prepaid gift cards online to be spent on products and services they offer or anywhere the card is accepted. Furthermore, partnering with Visa or Mastercard, retailers widely have signed on to offer store cards that can also be used elsewhere (Business Wire 2009). For example starting summer 2009, Marriott International Inc. offered a $20 Visa Gift card when a guest booked a weekend stay with Courtyard between certain dates using a promotional code (Marriott 2009). TowerGroup, a global research and consulting firm, "estimates that by 2010, prepaid and gift card usage will be $75 billion, a 600% increase over 2005; and 375 million cards will be in circulation, a 1,000 percent increase" (CoreCard Software 2009). The Mercator Advisory Group in the United States claims that "the open-loop, branded prepaid market will see an annual market spend of $28 billion, and the closed-loop, private label prepaid market $171 billion between 2006 and 2009" (CoreCard Software 2009). In 2009 Cabela's Incorporated announced that it now offers its own branded Club Visa credit card and plans to introduce Club Visa Signature card by New Year. This new loyalty program offers benefits and opportunities to earn more free merchandise at Cabela's. The Club Visa Signature card will offer cash rebate of 5 percent in Cabela's Club points for purchases from Cabela's and 1 percent for all other purchases (Business Wire 2009). Domino's Pizza displays another example of the promotional online features that have been successfully used. Domino's market share jumped to a 28 percent in 2009 from an 11 percent 24 months ago due to the efficiency of its ordering process, the deals offered in the coupon section, and the rich data feedback of the baking and delivery process (Marketing Business Weekly 2009).

Price

In order to create value and compete with physical stores, e-tailers not only offer specials and discounts but also competitive prices on their web site. Retailers like Amazon.com compete by offering free shipping depending on the purchase amount, or different shipping options and costs, price bundles, and online credit card application. Koyuncu and Bhattacharya (2004) found that better prices available on the Internet and time saving feature of the Internet lead the consumers to shop more online. Arora (2008) studied the effect of price bundling on consumer attitudes, intentions, and beliefs toward a teeth-whitening product. They found that the effect of price bundling was not significant on attitudes but significant on intentions. However, the interaction effects of pricing and framing were found significant on both attitudes as well as intentions in their study. Besides price bundling, e-tailers offer their own store cards as incentive that takes percents off the purchase.

Company

While most web sites provide the ability to customers make purchase transactions, they also provide company related information for their various stakeholders to maintain a long-lasting relationship. For example, companies provide investor information where current and potential investors can view annual reports and proxy materials (Thompson 2008), or information for a franchise investment. In addition, information on suppliers, subsidiaries, and affiliate programs are among the features that most retailers provide on their web sites to build trust, enhance the brands' image, and educate customers. For example, Office Depot has a Business Resource Center on its web site that provides these types of sources of networks to other businesses (Grewal and Levy 2010). Global retailers also build different versions of their web sites in different languages to serve customers from different countries.

Customer Service

Retailers provide a contact us feature for shoppers to reach a sales representative via email, chat, or sometimes webcam. According to a late 2008 cross-industry survey study by Forrester Research Inc., 84 percent of web sites offered email and according to another study by E-tailing Group Inc. 54 percent of the sites of the 100 largest online retailers offered Live chat as a way to contact customer support (Internet Retailer 2009). Amazon.com Inc. recently adopted the technology that let shoppers send a product picture to a customer service representative who can search the retailer's web site for an identical or similar product (Demery 2009). To make it faster and more efficient, Wal-Mart categorizes the topics for the shoppers before they send their requests via email. In the customer service information feature, retailers provide a 1-800 toll free number, a store locator feature to provide a local phone number when a customer enters a zip code, and/or the address and business hours for the local stores. For first time users of a web site, most web sites provide a register feature. For the repeat customers, they offer a sign-in and customer account features that store information about the customer and past purchases. According to a late 2007 survey study by Jupiter Research, 42 percent of online shoppers indicated that they had contacted a retailer about an online purchase in the past six months (Internet Retailer 2009). Other customer service type features that are offered include newsletters, shopping tips, customer feedback, and frequently asked questions.

METHOD

The list of top 250 global retailers was obtained from National Retail Federation's study of 2008 Global Powers of Retailing (NRF 2008). The data included 2006 sales revenues and net income/loss, number of formats, and number of countries these companies operate in. Number of formats indicates the number of different store types a company operates. For example, Wal-Mart has different types of store formats such as discount stores, super centers, and neighborhood stores. The information available on the web is increasingly multilingual (Blanco and Lioma 2009). For this reason, the researchers of this study began with visiting every web site of the 250 top global retailers and identifying those that have English web sites available, and not available, and those with only corporate site available in English. The frequencies and percents are presented in Table 2. Only those that use English content on their web site were included in the analyses. The analysis involved mean comparisons to see if performance data significantly differ between the retailers that do versus do not have certain website features. In doing so, independent sample t-tests were conducted.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The most common and uncommon website features found on the top 250 global retailer websites are presented in Table 3. From the highest to lowest, the top 10 most common features offered on the web sites are: (1) learning center, (2) customer service information, (3) product description, (4) special offers, (5) email signup, (6) search, (7) matching/ alternative products, (8) 1-800 number, (9) investor information and (10) FAQ (frequently asked questions). Common characteristics of these features concentrate on providing product related information including product description, showing matching/alternative products, promotions, and company related information such as investor information. The top global retailers also offer means to customers to reach the customer service representatives via email and a toll-free number and to find answers through FAQ.

The top 10 most uncommon features of the top 250 global retailer websites include: (1) rebates, (2) price bundles, (3) interactive shopping aid, (4) gift registry, (5) coupons, (6) affiliate programs, (7) free shipping, (8) cancel order, (9) online credit application and (10) company credit card. In this list, common characteristics of those uncommon features mostly concentrate on price/ financing and promotion related aspects. Interestingly, interactive shopping aid feature is still somewhat limited for the majority of the top 250 global retailers

The statistical results of the product related website features are presented in Table 4. The number of store formats for global retailers that offer learning center feature (2.21) on their websites is significantly more than those of the retailers that do not offer this feature (1.00) on their web sites at p=0.001 level. The performance results, number of store formats and number of countries in operation of the top global retailers that do and do not carry the other website features including search, product description, wish list, gift registry and matching/ alternative products were similar. Even though learning center was the most common feature among global retailers (Table 3); those that have more number of store formats include the learning center feature on their web sites significantly more than those with smaller number of store formats that do not include the learning center feature on their web site. Those that offer it may be more experienced in offering educational product/service usage information to promote customer relationships. Product recommendations through the learning center feature on their sites may also contribute to their higher level of aggregate retail sales ($16.5 vs. $5.2 billion) and aggregate income ($756 vs. $12 million).

The statistical results of place related website features are presented in Table 5. The number of countries in operation for the global retailers that offer a return policy (9.34) is significantly more than that of the retailers that do not offer a return policy (4.32) on their web sites at p=0.001 level. The global retailers with a greater number of store formats seem to offer the website features such as interactive shopping aid (p=0.001) and cancel order (p=0.05) significantly less than those with a lesser number of store formats. The retailers that have more store formats seem to guide the customers to cancel their orders and interact with a sales-associate in their stores rather than online. This may be because when customers are in the store, sales associates can interact and offer a better solution to the customer in order not to lose the sale or even the customer. The top retailers that have operations in more countries seem to significantly provide their return policy on their web sites than those that have operations in smaller number of countries. This may be because the retailers that operate in more countries are more established with and experienced in their logistics in place.

Table 6 presents the statistical results of promotion related website features. The global retailers operate in a higher number of countries seem to offer a company credit card on their web sites (10.19) significantly less than those of the retailers that operate in smaller number of countries (4.89) at p=0.001 level. Similarly, this was also true for gift cards (7.20 vs. 10.51) at p=0.05 level. In terms of rebates, both the number of countries in operation and the number of store formats were statistically significant at p=0.05 level. Specifically, global retailers operating in limited number of countries (5.05 vs. 8.63) with less store formats (1.53 vs. 2.28) provide rebates feature on their websites less than those operating in more countries and more store formats. The reason for this consistent pattern may be that use of more complex promotions like gift cards, company credit cards, and rebates may not be feasible for the retailers that operate in greater number of countries and greater number of store formats. It may be more manageable for those retailers that have a less complex structure to offer these features on their web sites. Once these retailers become more experienced in such promotions, they may offer them in multi-country settings. Also, differing exchange rates, laws and regulations of various countries may have a hindering effect on the use of rebates, gift cards, and company credit cards.

The statistical results of price related website features are presented in Table 7. The global retailers that operate in a greater number of countries offer price of products (9.10) on their web sites significantly more than those that do not operate in as many countries (4.84) at p=0.05 level. However, an inverse relationship was found for the online credit application feature. The global retailers that operate in a greater number of countries offer online credit application (9.88) on their web sites significantly less than those that operate in a limited number of countries (5.13) at p=0.05 level. Interestingly, retailers with a greater number of multi-country operations include price of products more often on their web sites, but they shy away from offering online credit applications. This may be because of conflicting credit application and approval rules and regulations of various countries. The commonly seen online credit card application fraud in less developed countries may be another reason.

Table 8 presents the statistical results of company related website features. The global retailers with a greater number of store formats offer subsidiaries information (2.87) on their websites significantly more than those with a limited number of store formats (1.41) at p=0.001 level. Offering international websites had a significant positive association with the group income/loss, number of store formats and number of countries in operation at p=0.001 level. Specifically, global retailers with higher group income (1,079 vs. 451), number of store formats (2.83 vs. 1.67) and number of countries in operation (13.0 vs. 4.34) are those that had significantly more international websites than their counterparts.

Global retailers with higher retail sales had also investor information ($17.8 vs. $8.9 billion) and supplier information ($23.8 vs. $10.5 billion) features on their websites. Company related aspects of the web sites had the most number of positive associations with the performance measures that differentiate successful and not-so-successful global retail operations. Companies with more store formats and multi-country operations have used more links to their international sites and provided information about their subsidiaries. As retailers grow they implement more store formats and open more locations of operations. This, in turn, speeds up their further growth as evident in the higher level of retail sales of the companies that include investor and supplier information on their web sites.

Table 9 presents the results of customer service related website features. None of the performance measures were significantly different between the retailers that have and do not have these online features. That is, all of the website features including email signup, customer service information, login, 1-800 number, register, customer accounts, customer feedback, newsletter, shopping tips, and FAQ were similar with regard to sales, income/ loss, number of store formats and number of countries the retailers operate in. That may be because most of the customer related aspects are offered both online and offline, and customers have many different ways to reach retailers. That is why no single feature contributes statistically to higher performance between the retailers that offer and do not offer these features on their web sites.

CONCLUSION

This study of online features of250 global retailers' web sites found that performance factors such as number of store formats, number of countries the retailers operate in as well as retail sales were key factors that associated with product, place, promotion, price, and company aspects of the marketing mix. The most common features that were provided by 80 percent or more of the web sites of the top global retailers were learning center, customer service information, product description, special offers, e-mail sign up, search, matching/ alternative products, 1-800 number, investor information, and FAQ. On the contrary, rebates, price bundles, interactive shopping aids, and gift registry were only provided by 20 percent or less web sites of top global retailers.

Notably, customer service related online features that were common among the top global retailers no longer provide strategic differentiation because they provide customers with various online and offline means (e.g., email, 1-800, FAQ, customer feedback, in-store sales associate) to reach their customer service. Investor, supplier, and subsidiary information as well as the presence of international web site links were significantly and positively associated with performance factors such as retail sales, group income or loss, number of store formats and number of countries the retailers operate in. These online features (investor, supplier, and subsidiary information, and international web sites) may function as tools to attract more investors, suppliers, and customers; therefore, they lead to more growth.

This study shows that marketing mix components--product, place, promotion including the company, and price--are what make the retailers stand out if they provide the related features of the marketing mix on their web sites. The more retailers fine-tune their overall offerings to global markets, the more successful they become. Hindering factors in this scenario may be differences in rules, regulations, and laws of individual countries and markets. Future research streams are necessary to understand features such as gift cards, company credit cards, rebates, online credit offerings, credit history regulations, and their impact on retailers' performances in multi-country and multi-format operations.

REFERENCES

Adam, S., R. Mulye, K.R. Deans and D. Palihawadana (2002). E-marketing in perspective: a three country comparison of business use of the internet. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 20(4), 243-51.

Anonymous (2009). Examine the Private-Label Credit Cards in The U.S., 6th Edition. Business Wire, January 15.

Anonymous (2009). Cabela's Introduces CLUB Visa Signature Card. Business Wire, January 20.

Anonymous (2009). A little personalization goes a long way for e-retailers. Internet Retailer (July), 68.

Anonymous (2009). Customer service takes on greater importance in tough times. Internet Retailer (July), 20.

Anonymous (2009). Marriott International, Inc.; choose your reward this summer with a Visa gift card from Courtyard by Marriott. Leisure & Travel Week, (July 18), 41.

Anonymous (2009). CoreCard Software, Inc.; CoreCard Software releases white paper on meeting the challenges of Today's prepaid market. Marketing Business Weekly, (July 12), 367.

Anonymous (2009). Domino's Pizza; Domino's Pizza Ranks No. 1 in Online Ordering. Marketing Business Weekly, (July 12), 150.

Arora, R. (2008). Price bundling and framing strategies for complementary products. The Journal of Product and Brand Management, 17(7), 475.

Bart, Y., S. Venkatesh, F. Sultan and G. Urban (2005). Are the drivers and role of online trust the same for all web sites and consumers? A large-scale exploratory empirical study. Journal of Marketing, 69 (October), 133-152.

Blanco, R. and C. Lioma (2009). Mixed monolingual homepage finding in 34 languages: The role of language script and search domain. Information Retrieval, 12, 324-51.

Demery, P. (2009). Write your own ticket. Internet Retailer, (July), 6-10.

eMarketer (2009). Average web usage among US Internet users, (June 13). Available at: www.emarketer.com.

Fry, D. (2006). Web 2.0. Multichannel Merchant, 1(Dec.), 26.

Girard, Tulay, M. Anitsal and I. Anitsal (2008). Online features of the top 100 U.S. retailers' web sites. The International Journal of the Academic Business World, 2(1), 9-17.

Grewal, D. and M. Levy (2010). Marketing, 2ed. McGraw Hill Irwin.

Huarng, A. and D. Christopher (2003). Planning an effective internet retail store. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 21(4), 230-8.

Internet World Stats 2009. Usage and population statistics. Available at: http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm.

Koyuncu, C. and G. Bhattacharya (2004). The impacts of quickness, price, payment risk, and delivery issues on online shopping. Journal of Socio-Economics, 33, 241-251.

NRF (National Retail Federation (2008), "2008 Global Powers of Retailing: Top 250 Global Retailers," January, Section 2.

St. Amant, Kirk. 2005. A prototype theory approach to international web site analysis and design. Technical Communication Quarterly, 14 (1), 73-91.

Taylor and England (2006). Internet marketing: web site navigational design issues. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 24(1), 77-85.

Thompson, Louis (2008). Advanced IR section crucial to corporate websites. Compliance Week, 15 (November), 62-63.

Ismet Anitsal, Tennessee Tech University

M. Meral Anitsal, Tennessee Tech University

Tulay Girard, Penn State Altoona
Table 1: Online Feature Categories on the Top Global Retailers' Web Sites

      Product               Distribution              Promotion

Search                 Shopping Cart            Gift Cards
Product Description    Encryption               Company Credit Card
Learning Center        Return Policy            Coupons
Wish List              Delivery Time            Special Offers
Gift Registry          Order Tracking           Store Card
Matching/Alternative   Cancel Order             Rebates
  Products             Free Shipping
                       Interactive Shopping
                         Aid
                       Alternative Order
                         Methods

       Price                  Company              Customer Service

Price of Products      Investor Information     Email Signup
  Shipping Cost        Supplier Information     Customer Service
Price Bundles          Subsidiaries               Information
Online Credit          Affiliate Programs       Login
  Application          International Websites   1-800 Number
                                                Register
                                                Customer Accounts
                                                Customer Feedback
                                                Newsletter
                                                Shopping Tips
                                                FAQ

Table 2: Websites of Top Global Retailers by Language

Retailer's Website               Frequency   Percent

English Site Available              157        62.8
English Site Not Available           64        25.6
Only Corporate Site in English       29        11.6
Total                               250       100.0

Table 3: Most Common and Uncommon Website Features on the Top 250
Global Retailer Websites

                 Most Common Features

   Features on Retailer's       Exists   Does not
          Web Site                %      Exist %

Learning Center                  97.5      2.5
Customer Service Information     93.6      6.4
Product Description              87.3      12.7
Special Offer                    85.4      14.6
Email Signup                     85.4      14.6
Search                           83.4      16.6
Matching/Alternative Products    82.2      17.8
1-800 Number                     80.9      19.1
Investor Information             80.9      19.1
FAQ                              80.3      19.7
Customer Accounts                78.8      21.2
Price of Products                78.3      21.7
Login                            76.8      23.2
Return Policy                    73.9      26.1
Shopping Cart                    70.7      29.3
Register                         70.1      29.9
Gift Cards                       69.4      30.6
Encryption                       67.9      32.1
Delivery Time                    67.5      32.5
Shipping Cost                    64.3      35.7

               Most Uncommon Features

   Features on Retailer's       Exists   Does not
          Web Site                %      Exist %

Rebates                          12.7      87.3
Price Bundles                    17.2      82.8
Interactive Shopping Aid         17.8      82.2
Gift Registry                    19.4      80.6
Coupons                          28.0      72.0
Affiliate Programs               33.1      66.9
Free Shipping                    35.0      65.0
Cancel Order                     35.9      64.1
Online Credit Application        36.3      63.7
Company Credit Card              38.2      61.8
Alternative Order Methods        41.7      58.3
International websites           43.3      56.7
Supplier Information             43.9      56.1
Wish List                        47.7      52.3
Newsletter                       47.8      52.2
Customer Feedback                47.8      52.2
Store Card                       52.9      47.1
Subsidiaries                     53.5      46.5
Order Tracking                   53.5      46.5
Shopping Tips                    56.4      43.6

Table 4: Product Related Online Features on Global Retailer Websites

      Product          2006 Retail Sales   2006 Group Income
                           (US$ mil)       or Loss (US$ mil)

      Feature          Exists   Does Not   Exists   Does Not
                                 Exist               Exist

Search                 17,037    12,185     772       535
Product Description    16,325    16,217     795       448
Learning Center        16,542    5,224      756        12
Wish List              19,344    13,393     917       561
Gift Registry          27,258    13,623    1,237      584
Matching/Alternative   15,313    20,552     807       492
Products

      Product          # of Store Formats    # of Countries in
                                                 Operation

      Feature           Exists    Does Not   Exists   Does Not
                                   Exist               Exist

Search                   2.19       2.14      8.25      7.73
Product Description      2.07       2.90      8.64      5.20
Learning Center        2.21 (a)   1.00 (a)    8.31      1.33
Wish List                2.08       2.28      7.54      8.34
Gift Registry            2.07       2.22      5.62      8.66
Matching/Alternative     2.08       2.61      8.60      6.36
Products

(a) p < 0.01

Table 5: Place Related Online Features on Global Retailer Websites

          Place             2006 Retail Sales   2006 Group Income
     (Distribution)             (US$ mil)       or Loss (US$ mil)

         Feature            Exists   Does Not   Exists   Does Not
                                      Exist               Exist

Shopping Cart               18,046    11,972     827       499
Encryption                  17,330    14,181     809       581
Return Policy               17,878    11,813     822       462
Delivery Time               17,196    14,426     837       514
Order Tracking              17,467    14,811     887       515
Cancel Order                21,179    13,377     994       559
Free Shipping               18,677    15,015     898       649
Interactive Shopping Aid    26,853    13,830    1,401      568
Alternative Order Methods   20,073    13,596    1,019      515

          Place                 # of Store          # of Countries
     (Distribution)              Formats             in Operation

         Feature             Exists    Does Not    Exists    Does Not
                                        Exist                 Exist

Shopping Cart                 1.19       2.17       8.70       6.83
Encryption                    2.13       2.33       8.51       7.56
Return Policy                 2.12       2.37     9.34 (a)   4.32 (a)
Delivery Time                 2.10       2.36       8.65       7.15
Order Tracking                2.02       2.39       9.01       7.08
Cancel Order                1.85 (b)   2.40 (b)     7.89       8.42
Free Shipping                 2.02       2.27       8.42       8.03
Interactive Shopping Aid    1.68 (a)   2.30 (a)     9.79       7.79
Alternative Order Methods     2.08       2.25       7.85       7.93

(a) p < 0.01; (b) p < 0.05

Table 6: Promotion Related Online Features on Global Retailer Websites

     Promotion        2006 Retail Sales   2006 Group Income
                          (US$ mil)       or Loss (US$ mil)

      Feature         Exists   Does Not   Exists   Does Not
                                Exist               Exist

Gift Cards            15,883    17,344     737       757
Company Credit Card   18,957    14,682     942       609
Coupons               14,484    17,017     707       756
Special Offers        18,858    12,547     782       506
Store Card            19,719    12,663     955       516
Rebates               19,581    15,825     932       712

     Promotion           # of Store             # of Countries
                           Formats               in Operation

      Feature          Exists      Does Not    Exists     Does Not
                                    Exist                   Exist

Gift Cards              1.96        2.72       7.20 (b)   10.51 (b)
Company Credit Card     2.02        2.29       4.89 (a)   10.19 (a)
Coupons                 1.83        2.32       6.24        8.92
Special Offers          2.15        2.36       7.83       10.09
Store Card              2.09        2.28       7.08        9.34
Rebates                 1.53 (b)    2.28 (b)   5.05 (b)    8.63 (b)

(a) p < 0.01; (b) p < 0.05

Table 7: price Related Online Features on Global Retailer Websites

          Price             2006 Retail Sales   2006 Group Income
                                (US$ mil)       or Loss (US$ mil)

         Feature            Exists   Does Not   Exists   Does Not
                                      Exist               Exist

Price of Products           17,812    10,916     832       372
Shipping Cost               17,767    13,485     853       495
Price Bundles               30,528    13,112    1,311      592
Online Credit Application   19,832    14,325     957       614

          Price                 # of Store         # of Countries
                                 Formats            in Operation

         Feature            Exists   Does Not    Exists    Does Not
                                      Exist                 Exist

Price of Products            2.18      2.19     9.10 (b)   4.84 (b)
Shipping Cost                2.01      2.52     8.73       7.08
Price Bundles                1.93      2.24     6.78       8.48
Online Credit Application    2.08      2.24     5.13 (b)   9.88 (b)

(b) p < 0.05

Table 8: Company Related Online Features on Global Retailer Websites

       Company              2006 Retail Sales        2006 Group Income
                               (US$ mil)             or Loss (US$ mil)

       Feature             Exists      Does Not    Exists      Does Not
                                        Exist                   Exist

Investor Information       17,830 (b)   8,896 (b)     753       227
Supplier Information       23,840 (b)  10,505 (b)   1,061       520
Subsidiaries               17,844      14,577         771       711
Affiliate Programs         23,048      12,838         951       622
International Websites     22,492      11,411       1,079 (a)   451 (a)

       Company               # of Store          # of Countries in
                               Formats              Operation

       Feature            Exists    Does Not   Exists     Does Not
                                     Exist                  Exist

Investor Information      2.25       1.73       8.17        8.16
Supplier Information      2.48       1.95       6.25        9.65
Subsidiaries              2.87 (a)   1.41 (a)   8.99        7.25
Affiliate Programs        2.18       2.19       9.92        7.27
International Websites    2.83 (a)   1.67 (a)  13.00 (a)    4.34 (a)

(a) p < 0.01; (b) p < 0.05

Table 9: Customer Service Related Online Features On Global Retailer
Websites

   Customer Service      2006 Retail Sales   2006 Group Income
                             (US$ mil)       or Loss (US$ mil)

       Feature           Exists   Does Not   Exists   Does Not
                                   Exist               Exist

Email Signup             16,695    13,868     776       467
Customer Service Info.   15,417    30,015     739       814
Login                    16,066    17,840     781       639
1-800 Number             17,139    12,938     758       672
Register                 16,970    14,605     801       558
Customer Accounts        16,440    15,956     783       579
Customer Feedback        17,102    15,530     903       589
Newsletter               19,738    13,020     930       563
Shopping Tips            16,607    15,997     885       576
FAQ                      16,229    16,656     777       561

   Customer Service          # of Store       # of Countries
                              Formats          in Operation

       Feature           Exists   Does Not   Exists   Does Not
                                   Exist               Exist

Email Signup              2.09      2.75      8.12      8.50
Customer Service Info.    2.09      3.56      7.91     12.22
Login                     2.13      2.34      8.35      7,75
1-800 Number              2.25      1.90      7.44     11.14
Register                  2.13      2.32      8.48      7.34
Customer Accounts         2.15      2.17      8.42      7.41
Customer Feedback         1.93      2.43      7.51      8.82
Newsletter                2.25      2.12      8.44      7.91
Shopping Tips             2.04      2.32      8.35      8.05
FAQ                       2.18      2.21      8.53      6.64
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