Conceptualizing consumers' perceptions of e‐commerce quality

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the structure of the concept of customer‐perceived quality (CPQ) in electronic commerce (e‐commerce). Design/methodology/approach – The study applies the methodology of concept mapping to data obtained from online and offline focus groups. Following a series of structured conceptualization tasks, the data were analyzed using multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis to establish a conceptual construct of e‐commerce CPQ. Findings – The proposed conceptual construct consists of six dimensions: outcome quality; consumer service; process controllability; ease of use; information quality; and web site design. The study finds that online consumers attach more importance to quality attributes associated with outcome quality and consumer service than to attributes associated with web transactions. Research limitations/implications – The sample should be extended to facilitate the generalization of the findings from this research. Originality/value – This paper identifies a three‐level structure for e‐commerce quality as perceived by consumers. The study offers practical insights to online retailers in providing superior service.