Impact of e-commerce in lowering operational costs and raising customer satisfaction

Purpose - Much research has been done on how e-commerce has allowed companies to integrate business processes and reduce operational costs. The intent of this study, however, is to understand how e-commerce has affected companies' abilities to serve the customers' needs and to raise their level of satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach - Exploratory data analysis and logistics regression were used to analyze data collected from a multi-industry company survey. The analysis showed that companies have been able to improve the level of service they can provide to their customers with e-commerce. Findings - The research showed that there is a direct correlation between the use of e-commerce and improved customer service. In particular, e-commerce has improved the availability of information, reduced processing errors, reduced response times, lowered costs of services, and has effectively raised customer satisfaction and the level of service that customers expect to receive. Practical implications - The research revealed, that many businesses are making the transition to integrated e-commerce business operations. This is being done with the expectations of lowering operational costs and also significantly improving the level of their service offerings. Originality/value - The study is unique in terms of applying logistics regression approach to multi-company data across various industries to analyze the impact of e-commerce on the service aspect of business operations. It also addresses the research question - whether e-commerce use in a business effectively raises the level of customer service and overall business operation to a more desirable quality.