Customers repurchase intention formation in e-commerce

Background: Electronic loyalty (e-loyalty) has become important in the context of electronic commerce (e-commerce) in recent years. Loyal customers bring long-term revenue to companies and are known to be a valuable asset to them. However, firms lose their customers in a competitive environment on the Internet because of a lack of trust, satisfaction and loyalty. Objectives: This study explains how e-loyalty, e-trust and e-satisfaction form in e-commerce with a focus on customer purchase intention formation. Method: A conceptual framework was formed based upon the literature review. Data were collected from e-customers of online firms in South Africa. After data clarification, confirmatory factor analysis was conducted. The structural equation modelling was applied to test the hypotheses. IBM SPSS AMOS 20 was used for this purpose. Results: Firstly, convenience, customer benefit and enjoyment affect customer satisfaction in e-commerce. In other words, when customers do business activities easily with enjoyment and take benefit, they are satisfied and they will purchase again in future. Secondly, our study demonstrated that customer perception of security, clear shopping process and reliable payment system have a positive relationship with e-trust. Finally, e-satisfaction and e-trust have a positive and strong relationship with e-loyalty formation in e-commerce. Conclusion: The results of the study shed light on important issues relating to e-loyalty formation from a new perspective. Online companies are interested in launching e-loyalty programmes because of the long-term benefits that come from loyal customers. To remain competitive, e-commerce companies should constantly work at enhancing customer trust, satisfaction and loyalty. Keywords: E-commerce; customer satisfaction; trust; loyalty