Effect of online shopping attributes on customer satisfaction among customers of online market firms in Kenya

Abstract

Customer satisfaction is considered to be one of the most important outcomes of all marketing activities in a market-oriented firm and become the most important predictor of future behavioral intention. Nowadays, online shopping is a fast growing phenomenon. Growing numbers of consumers shop online to purchase goods and services, gather product information or even browse for enjoyment. However, online shopping has taken strong hold in western countries and will continue to experience growth as compared to Kenya which still experiences slow growth in online markets. Customers are satisfied when they are able to touch or online feel the product before they purchase it. Thus, the study the main aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of online shopping attributes on customer satisfaction among online market firms. The study was guided by the following objectives; to determine effect of security in online shopping on customer satisfaction, to establish effect of mode of payment on customer satisfaction, to determine effect of delivery of goods on customer satisfaction, to establish effect of pricing on customer satisfaction and to establish effect of ease of use in online shopping on customer satisfaction. The study will be informed Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Innovation Diffusion Theory (IDT). Explanatory research design was used in this study. The study targeted 222,748 customers drawn from top 12 online markets established in Kenya. The study used stratified and random sampling technique to select a sample of 399 customers. Researcher used questionnaires as a tool for data collection. In order to test the reliability of the instrument, the Cronbach alpha test was used. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics include those of the mean, standard deviation and frequency distribution while inferential statistics involves use of correlations and multiple regression analysis. Findings showed that security in online shopping (β1 = 0.198, p = 0.000), mode of payment (β2 = 0.108, p = 0.031), delivery of goods (β3 = 0.113, p = 0.019), pricing (β4 = 0.397, p = 0.000) and ease of use (β5 = 0.195, p = 0.000) had a positive and significant effect on customer satisfaction. Thus, the study concludes that security in online shopping, mode of payment, delivery of goods, pricing and ease of use of online shopping enhances customer satisfactions. Thus, there is need to assure the customers of their security and the security of their financial details when they purchase online. This calls for investment in online security and also assuring the customers constantly by upgrading the security of their transaction systems online. It is important to consider the pricing regime of the online stores to ensure that the customers are able to have many choices to pick from in terms of prices thus being able to navigate the competitive terrain where pricing plays a big part in customer attraction strategies