Determinants of Consumers' E-Loyalty: A Cross-Channel Perspective

Abstract

Websites are acknowledged as essential to the marketing of brick-and-mortar companies in the maturing e-commerce marketplace. Knowledge of how to position these companies' Websites effectively is thus regarded as essential by scholars and practitioners. By investigating consumer cross-channel behavior, the current study was designed to reveal determinants of consumers' e-loyalty. Two hundred and eighty randomly selected consumers from a top international brick-and-mortar company's customer database participated in an online survey, findings from which indicated that a high level of consumers' brand loyalty in the retail channel not only directly enhances consumers' trust of the same brand's Website, but also directly increases consumers' online brand familiarity and perceived brand reputation, which reinforce consumers' trust in the same brand's Website. Consequently, consumers' e-loyalty toward the same brand's Website is also enhanced. The implications should enable managers to develop Website positioning strategies that leverage their existing brand power in the retail channel.