E-retail and online customer satisfaction: Differential impact of delivery time in Indian metros

Indian e-commerce space is experiencing a tremendous growth that India along with China together is expected to cross the US as largest online retail markets in the world, and that the drivers behind the expansion of e-commerce in India and China are almost same. Recent studies reveals that close to one-third of Internet users are already making online purchases, this growth of e-commerce will rely to a great extend on increased spending from the existing buyers than from fresh online buyers. Hence the demand for retaining existing customers has turned out to be one of the most important objectives of e-retailers. Minimizing the delivery time of the order has turned out to be one of the most important factors in achieving customer satisfaction as per the studies done by various researchers. This paper tries to identify the factors which determine the perceived satisfaction among online shoppers with regard to the delivery time featured offered by the e-retailers. In the study we find that delivery time and website information plays a key role in determining the overall satisfaction with the e-retailer. The study also reveals that people who are highly satisfied with delivery time in non-metros are more likely to be satisfied overall with the e-retailer.