Physical distribution service quality in Internet retailing: service pricing, transaction attributes, and firm attributes

This paper develops a theoretical framework and empirically investigates physical distribution service (PDS) quality by Internet retailers in their transactions with consumers. An analysis of data that measure hundreds of electronic commerce transactions along with data at the firm level shows that...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of operations management Vol. 21; no. 6; pp. 651 - 672
Main Authors Rabinovich, Elliot, Bailey, Joseph P
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Chicago Elsevier B.V 2004
Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
Subjects
Distribution
e-Commerce
e-Services
Electronic commerce
Internet
Logistics
Logistics/distribution
Management information systems
MIS/operations interface
Operations research
Retailing
Service operations
Studies
e-Commerce
MIS/operations interface
Logistics/distribution
e-Services
Service operations
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Summary:This paper develops a theoretical framework and empirically investigates physical distribution service (PDS) quality by Internet retailers in their transactions with consumers. An analysis of data that measure hundreds of electronic commerce transactions along with data at the firm level shows that higher shipping and handling charges are good indicators of better PDS quality. Other transaction-level conditions and firm-level attributes also affect PDS quality, as measured by availability, timeliness, and reliability. Most notably, when the net price of products transacted increases, PDS reliability and availability decline. Furthermore, Internet-retailer size is found to favor PDS availability whereas, surprisingly, newer Internet retailers exhibit a higher level of PDS availability than many of their incumbent competitors.
ISSN:0272-6963
1873-1317
DOI:10.1016/j.jom.2003.11.004