E-Commerce And Service Delivery In Jumia

CHAPTER ONE/ Introduction

1.1 Background of the study 

“The market place isn’t what it used to be” (Kotler, 2000, pp.14). As Kotler describes, different forces result in market change like, technological advancement, globalization and deregulation and these forces created new behaviors and challenges. Among those behavioral changes, increase in customer expectation for higher quality of service delivery is one of them.
Electronic commerce also known as e-commerce has facilitated the emergence of new marketing strategies and business models in several industries in developing countries, Nigeria inclusive. Significant changes are happening in product retailing with the introduction of online shopping, especially in terms of channel development and coordination, business scope redefinition, the development of fulfillment centre model and core processes, new ways of customer value creation, online partnerships and general customer satisfaction. In fact the role of online marketing itself has undergone some significant changes in the last few years in Nigeria (Irene 2004). The electronic commerce segment of the retail market has witnessed tremendous growth in terms of participation in the Nigerian economy in the past few years. According to Johnson, (2012) over 100 firms both local and foreign have shown greater interest in the sector alleged to worth over $50 billion annually. The industry has no doubt opened doors for the coming generation of young Nigerian entrepreneurs. Electronic commerce industry has no doubt increased the percentage of local content in products and services as well as increased utilization of local capacity.
 
Ayo, Adewoye and Oni (2011) asserted that Jumia e-commerce in Nigerian business organizations has increased since the users of internet in Nigeria has grown from 0.1% in 2000 to 49.5% of its population in 2019 and still has the potential to grow higher. Tunde (2014) also noted that online retail market in Nigeria has significantly impacted the nation’s economy. In the same vein, Mary-Anne (2008) affirmed that e-commerce has offered a level playing ground for large businesses, as well as small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) to operate in the global market-place; and for regional businesses and communities to participate in social, economic and cultural networks seamlessly across international boundaries. E-commerce refers to the use of communications technology particularly the internet to buy, sell and market goods and services to customers. The Internet has brought about a fundamental shift in national economies that are isolated from each other by barriers to cross-border trade and investment; isolated by distance, time zones and language; and isolated by national difference in government regulations, culture and business systems (Mohammad, 2004).
A customer is said to be satisfied when products and/or services meet the expectation of the customer. Trust which is a belief that one can rely upon a promise made by another (Pavlou, 2003), is an important factor in customer satisfaction. Stewart, Ellis, Johnson and Meyer (2009) define trust in electronic commerce as the subjective probability with which consumers believe that an online transaction with a web retailer will occur in a manner consistent with their expectations. Scholars have identified lack of trust as one of the main reasons for consumers’ cynicism towards electronic commerce. In the context of ecommerce, trust beliefs include the online consumers’ beliefs and expectancies about trust-related characteristics of the online seller (McKnight and Chervany,2002). The online consumers desire the online sellers to be willing and able to act in the consumers’ interests, to be honest in transactions (not divulging personal information to other vendors), and to be capable of delivering the ordered goods as agreed. According to Mahmood (2004), the trust factor has significant positive contributions to consumers’ online shopping behaviour. Jiang, Chen and Wang (2008) argued that consumer trust is a critical enabler of successful online retailing and knowledge is one important factor influencing the level of trust. The work of Gefen (2003)and Al-Dwairi, Chappel and Feindt(2009), among others presented an integrated trust model with the technology acceptance model for business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce.
It is very important that customers are content with the products and services provided by the particular internet shop as satisfied customers are likely to be loyal and make repeat purchases which will increase profitability of that particular e-commerce company. In this study, the concept of satisfaction will be referred in terms of outcome by comparing the prior expectation and the perceived performance for each antecedent factor in order to measure the attitude of the respondents for each of those factors.Many studies have been carried out to investigate the various degree of influence that e-commerce has on business development in Nigeria using different sectors of the economy but there seems a dearth of research that has specifically studied E-Commerce And Service Delivery In Jumia.

 1.2 Statement of the problem 

In our dynamic world, way of business making process is being changed from time to time and the introduction of new technologies takes the largest contribution for this evolvement. Now, businesses are more of customer oriented and try to fulfill their customer demand before their competitors do, otherwise, they will be out of market as customers have options to get what they want.
Delivering goods to customers is a critical activity in any business (Huang, Kuo and Xu, 2009). And the way of performing this core activity matters for the customer. In now a days, people are seeking for more convenience and comfort in their shopping experience, and market strategies are continuously changing to cop up with this customer needs.
Digital technology has provided a new paradigm to our society and changed our lives interaction with the Internet. Online shopping is much more convenient for shoppers than that of the traditional way, as there is a possibility to order what they need at their office or home. Online shoppers anticipate quicker delivery than offline purchasing, and timely delivery at convenient times (Huang et al., 2009).
Several factors contribute to a positive experience on online acquisition from an e-shop: comfort, products’ availability and diversity, handling and payment conditions, reimbursement policies in case of non-conformity (Ramanathan, 2010). Effective logistics service is required to meet the customer need and satisfy the customer.
Online shopping in Nigeria started in recent years and it is not matured yet as there are bottlenecks like our payment system, our society understanding for online shopping to find potential market and others. Regardless of this, there are some businesses started to participate in this market like, Jumia Market. Thus, it is worth studying this new stream of shopping experience in Nigeria  so as to identify logistic service quality contribution to the increase of its customers’ satisfaction level.
The study will mainly focus on determining the customer satisfaction level of Jumia Market online shoppers by using standard measurement of logistics service quality and it also identifies the logistics service quality dimensions that affect the customer satisfaction most.

1.3.Research Questions 

Three questions will be addressed with this research:

1. What is the level of customer satisfaction with Jumia online Market service?
2. Is there statistically significant relationship between Jumia online market logistics service quality and its customer satisfaction?
3. Which logistics service quality dimensions affect customer satisfaction most?
4. Is there any relationship among each logistics service quality dimensions?

1.4.Objective of the study
The general objective of the study is to E-Commerce And Service Delivery In Jumia

Specific objectives:

In addition of attending the general objective, the study has the following specific objectives:

• To assess the significance of overall Jumia online Market logistics service quality on customer
• To determine which logistics service quality dimensions mostly affect the customer
• To identify the relationship among logistics service quality

1.5 Research Hypothesis 

Hi There is no significance level of jumia online market logistics and quality of services Delivery
Ho There is no significance level of jumia online market logistics and quality of services Delivery

1.6 Significance of  the Study  

The study of service delivery  is critical for any organization to provide superior service for their customers, especially for online shopping retailers in Nigeria  who are recently emerging. This study has both practical and theoretical significance. The findings of the will research help Jumia Market to understand its customers’ attitude towards the logistics service provided.
The other major significance is the study will contribute its part in the literature of customer satisfaction survey with the logistics service quality of online shopping in Ethiopia that will pave a way for further improvement and in-depth investigation on the impact of logistics service for customer satisfaction.
It is also important for me to conduct the study for fulfilling the requirement E-Commerce And Service Delivery In Jumia

1.7 Scope of the study

The scope of the study will be limited to assessing the customer satisfaction of Jumia online Market with the logistics service they are providing for the customer.
 

1.8 Operational definition of Terms 

Table 1: Operational Definitions