Electronic Commerce B2C Str ategi es and Model s Edited by STEVE ELLIOT U niversity of N ewcastle, Australia JOHN WILEY & SONS, LTD Elect roni c C omme r c e W i l e y Ser i e s i t n e Im nfs o r m a t i on Sy s C U R R E N T V O L U M E S I N T H E S E R I E S Knig ht s &u r r May: Managers Divided Kr mcar :D I Ein Europe Wa r d : Strategic Planning for Information Systems (2nd Edition) McKe en & Smit h: Management Challenges in IS—Successful Strategies and Appropriate Action Re me nyi, Sher wood- Smit h wit h Whit e :hie vAingc Maximum Value from Information Systems—A Process Approach Wigand: Information, Organisation & Management—Expanding Markets Corporate Boundaries G a llie r s a at e sn :d InBformTaetionchnology & O rganizational Transformation— Innovation for the 21st Century O rganization W illc o c k s & La Scou itrc ingy of: InSfotrramtegication Systems—Perspectives and Practices W illc o c k s t s e &er yond:L e Bthe IT Productivity Paradox G r ot h: Future O rganizational Design—The Scope for the IT-based Enterprise Timme r les ct:r onicE Commerce—Strategies and Models for Business-to-Business Trading Renkema: The IT Value Q uest—H ow to Capture the Business Value of IT-Based Infrastructure Cur r ie: The Global Information Society Wal s ah m : Making Wo rld of Difference—IT in a Global Context Electronic Commerce B2C tSr ategi es andodel Ms Edited by STEVE ELLIOT U niversity of N ewcastle, Australia JOHN WILEY & SONS, LTD Copyright © 2002 by J ohn Wiley & Sosn Ltd, Baffins Lane, Chichester, West Sussex PO 19 1UD, England National 01243 779777 International (‡ 44) 1243 779777 e-mail (for orders and customer service enquiries): cs-books@ wiley.co.uk Visit our Home Page on http://www.wiley.co.uk or http://www.wiley.com All Rights Reserved. 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Wiley Series in Information Systems E d i t o r s RIC HA RDBOLA ND De par t me nt of Ma nagement Inf or ma t ion and Decis ion Sys t e ms , Weat her head School of Ma nagement , Cas e Wes t e r n Re s e r v e Univer s it y , 10900 Euclid Avenue, C leveland, Ohio 44106- 7235, US A RUD YH IRS C HHEIMDe par t me nt of Decis ion and Inf or ma t ion Sys t e ms , C ollege of Bus ines s A d m i n i s t r a t i o n , Un i v e r s i t y o f Ho u s t o n , Ho u s t o n , Te xa s 77202- 6283, US A Advi sory Board NI ELSB JØRN-AND E R S CopenhagenE N Bus ines s School, Denma r k D. OSR SJEFFERY Univer s it y of Ne w S out h Wales , A us t r alia HEI NZK. LEIK N St at e Univer s it y of Ne w Yor k, US A ROB KLI NG Indiana Univer s it y , USA TIM J. INCL O LNIBM UK Lim it e d , UK BENN R. ONSK Y NS EmorKI y Univer s it y , A t lant a , USA FRA NKF. ANDL London School of Ec onomic s , UK ENI DM UM F O RMa D nches t er Bus ines s School, UK MIKE NEW MA NUniver s it y of Ma nches t er , UK DANIEL ROBEY G eorgia State University, USA E. URB T OS WAN NS O UniverN s it y of Calif or nia, US A ROBERT TRI C KE WaR r wic k Bus ines s School, UK GEO FFW ALSHAM Univer s it y of Cambr idge, UK ROBERT W. MUDZ Univer s it y of Ok la homa, US A For J enny, C hr i s and the Cur r y Cl ub Contents Fo re wo rd b y Pe t e r K e e n i x C o n tri bu to rs xi S eries Preface by Ru dy Hirsch h eim xiii 1. Introduction to B2C Strategies and Models 1 STEVE ELLIO T 2. Internet Retailing in Australia 19 STEVE ELLIO T 3. Internet Retailing in Denmark 61 NIELS BJØ RN -ANDERSEN 4. Internet Retailing in Greece 99 NIKO LAO S MYLONOPOULOS AND KATHERINE PRAMATARIS 5. Internet Retailing in Hong Kong, China 137 MATTHEW LEE 6. Internet Retailing in the United Kingdom 179 BOB GALLIERS AND ANNE WIGGINS 7. Internet Retailing in the United States 217 DON LLOYD COOK, BENZ JACOB, JAN PRIES-HEJE, SANDEEP PURAO AND JONATHAN WAREHAM 8. Evaluating Websites and Surveying Customers O nline 255 STEVE ELLIO T AND NIELS BJØ RN -ANDERSEN 9. Research Model and Theoretical Implications 291 STEVE ELLIO T 10. Conclusion 327 STEVE ELLIO T Re fe re n c e s 343 In d e x 347 Foreword This book is research at its best. It’s a systematic and highly reliable comparative analysis of the patterns of e-commerce experience in many countries, large and small. The cases alone would be of value in expanding our understanding of the dynamics of e-commerce retailing; they cover Australia, Denmark, Greece, Hong Kong (C hina), the UK, and the USA, and provide five in-depth examples in each marketplace. But what makes Electronic Commerce a significant and very practical contribution to management knowledge and methods, is the extent to which it so clearly demonstrates that the dynamics of success are absolutely independent of specific national context – that there are common structural forces at work, regardless of whether this is an online retailer of CDs in Hong Kong, an e-mall in Greece, or a grocery startup in Australia. Steve Elliot and his co-authors provide a combination of depth and breadth in their cases and their application of their e-commerce adoption model that does full justice to the very different contexts and different outcomes. They thus report the rich variety of business context and outcomes. But what comes through so clearly is that while the drivers, inhibitors, consumer factors, market factors and above all organizational and operational factors vary widely in their details and timing, it’s literally the same the whole world over. On the surface, consumer-focused e-commerce has appeared very different in its rollouts and impacts across the world and even within countries. If that were indeed the case, then the subtitle of this book, Strategies and Models,wouldbe meaningless. Instead, we would continue to talk about visions and stories. Each major innovator has indeed been a story in itself, a story where it is often still unclear whether there will be a happy or sad ending and one with many twists in the plot. The US has provided most of the epics and melodramas – Amazon, Yahoo, Webvan, Expedia, Pets.com, eToys, eBay and others. Outside the United States, Boo.com stands out as a disaster story and Tesco’s online supermarket as x Foreword a so-far success, with thousands of mini-novellas. This kaleidoscope has been bewildering, a dazzling glitter – a surface. Electronic Commerce shows what’s beneath the surface: the creative tension between market and management. I often semi-jokingly reply to the frequent question as to what we can learn from the now-past dot.com era that there are two lessons (1) Brains and capital can transform any industry, and (2) Brains and capital plus adult supervision can turn that transformation into success. This book is about adult supervision: a management discipline that is adept in handling the newness of e-commerce – its innovation side – and in implementation of the core of strategy, organization and operations that the dot.com phase too easily ignored. Many of the early entrepreneurs and visionaries thought that innova- tion in itself would create and sustain the business. It didn’t. Management matters. There are no easy wins. That lesson was an expensive one and it has become a cliche´ that a dot.com website is not a business.