IMPACT OF E-BUSINESS ON CUSTOMERS SATISFACTION – A STUDY OF KONGA NIGERIA

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1     BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

E-business is the conduct of business via internet which relates to activities of information searching, information sharing, purchasing or exchanging products and services; also maintaining customer relationship without face to face meeting unlike transaction done in traditional way. Often e-business is wrongfully perceived as a way of doing business between web retailers and web end customers but rather e-business encompasses an entire range on conducting online business whether it’s the interaction between business to business, business to customer, and business to government (Wada and Odulaja, 2012).

According to Ainscough and Luckett (2006), all internet users are potential customers to companies in e-business. While the use of e-business is obviously beneficial and has been implemented by millions of companies all over the world, in line with its benefits, companies have also faced certain challenges. Among others, they have realized that ensuring customer satisfaction and developing customers’ trust of e-business services is no easy task, yet it is a very important task for the long-term growth of a business.

Customer satisfaction is when products and services meet the expectation of the consumers. It is very important that consumers are content with the products and services provided by the particular website as satisfied customers are likely to be loyal and make repetitive purchases which will increase profitability of that particular e-business company.

Customer satisfaction has been described as a consumer’s post evaluation of a purchased product or service, given pre-purchase expectations (Adewuyi, 2011). Striving for customer satisfaction is no different than good business. By “business” is not means only the Four Ps but rather business in the classic sense of being customer oriented and market driven. Attempting to find out what customers want and then trying to deliver the same may be seen as striving for customer satisfaction or simply doing good business.

Users of e-business Web sites often have high expectations for the quality of service, and if those expectations are not met, the next site is only a click away. A number of performance problems have been observed for e-business Web sites, and much work has gone into characterizing the performance of Web servers and Internet applications (Auta, 2010).

Ever since the introduction of e-business in the 1990s thanks to the World Wide Web (WWW), online trade has taken the world by storm. Empowered by the Internet, e-business quickly spread out to most businesses as companies found it to be an impactful way of communication between parties, e-business, which can be simply defined as the exchanging of digitized transmission of electronic orders, is a cost-optimal way to promote and run a business (Imiefoh, 2012).

1.2   STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEMS

A number of performance problems in e-business systems have been observed, mainly due to heavier-than anticipated loads and the consequent inability to satisfy customer requirements. This has resulted in a lot of work attempting to characterize the performance of Web servers and Internet applications.

Many unsuccessful online businesses fail to satisfy their customers because the expectation of the online customers is often higher and may even be different from that those of using traditional business. Business in the world of the Internet, therefore, presents new challenges to businesses and marketers world-wide.

However the customers of these e-business systems are less well studied. Some surveys show considerable dissatisfaction with current e-business and Web servers; for example, it has been reported that as many as 60% of users typically cannot find the information they are looking for in a Web site, even though the information is present. In an area such as e-business, customers demand a high quality of the service they receive, since it is easy to move away to another site if they perceive the current one to be unsatisfactory.

1.3      OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The general objective of the study is to examine impact of e-business on customers satisfaction. The specific objectives of the study are to:

1. Examine the impact of electronic business on customers’ satisfaction.
2. Examine how well customers have been using e-business facilities.
3. Identify the impact of e-business on service delivery to customers.

1.4       RELEVANT RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following relevant questions where formulated:

1. What are the impacts of e-business on customers’ satisfaction?
2. How well have customers been using e-business facilities?
3. What are the positive impacts of e-business on service delivery to customers?

 1.5       RELEVANT RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

Here are the relevant research hypotheses:

HYPOTHESIS 1

h₀:      There   is   no   significant relationship between   electronic   commerce   and customers€™ satisfaction.

h₁:     There is significant relationship between electronic commerce and customers satisfaction.

HYPOTHESIS 2

h₀:      E-business does not have positive impact on service delivery to customers.

h₁:      E-business does have positive impact on service delivery to customers.

1.6      SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study is very important because it assess significance of electronic commerce on customers’ satisfaction.

Electronic business in Nigeria today is a welcome development and also its impact on the general public is expected to be positive and yielding fruit to our economy. So this research is significant in so many ways as: It will expose the factors that are preventing Nigerian e-trade by putting impactive and sustained e-business in place.

Using e-business as a strategic tool will make a provision on how general electronic trading can embrace opportunities and reduce threats in Nigerian business environment. This will provide a means through which commerce can improve their performance, increase profitability and also increase their chances of survival. It will motivate commerce and other economic agents to computerize their services. It will provide advanced Knowledge in the area of electronic commerce in Nigeria.

Furthermore, to sustain effective e-business in Nigeria, certain strategic measures will be revealed in order to reduce negative impacts of the problems identified as obstacles to the smooth functioning of the system.

1.7      SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This research work examines impact of e-business on customers satisfaction with a view to explore two selected companies, viz: KONGA, Lagos-Island, Lagos.

 1.8       DEFINITION OF TERMS

Customer Satisfaction: Customer satisfaction is a term frequently used in business. It is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation.

E-business: the use of computers to carry out transactions such as buying and selling on internet.

Information Technology (IT): This represents set of tools, processes, and methodologies and associated equipment employed to collect, process, and present information.

Service delivery: This is the act of providing the needs of customers or clients.

Spamming: This is the use of electronic messaging systems (including most broadcast media, digital delivery systems) to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately.

Project Overview

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