A critical appraisal of customer satisfaction and e‐commerce

In this paper electronic commerce (e‐commerce) is examined in the context of the relationship between firms and their customers and the implications for organisational accountability. The technology of e‐commerce determines what can be offered to customers, but only customers determine which of those technologies will be accepted. The author argues that providing the highest customer delivered value by e‐commerce can be viewed as making a real contribution to customers, i.e. shopping through the Internet will be accepted by customers. Customer satisfaction is of critical importance when measuring perceived customer delivered value that is offered by e‐commerce. Three main scales which play a significant role in influencing customer satisfaction are customer need, customer value and customer cost.