Typologies of e‐commerce retail failures and recovery strategies

Purpose – The authors propose focusing on e‐commerce service failure and recovery through the presentation of failure and recovery strategies employed by e‐commerce service firms.Design/methodology/approach – The authors employ the critical incident technique using 377 customer responses to present ten e‐tail failures and 11 e‐tail recovery strategies used by e‐commerce service firms. The authors also present data on post‐recovery satisfaction levels and propensity to switch behavior.Findings – Findings indicate that: e‐tail customers experience different types of service failure relative to traditional retail settings; e‐tail firms employ a different series of recovery strategies relative to traditional retail settings; and post‐recovery switching by e‐tail customers can be high even with satisfying experiences.Originality/value – This paper strengthens the existing failure and recovery literature by presenting data on the largest growing sector of the service industry. These findings will have value to ...

[1]  J. C. Flanagan.  Psychological Bulletin THE CRITICAL INCIDENT TECHNIQUE , 2022 .

[2]  C. Lovelock.  Classifying Services to Gain Strategic Marketing Insights , 1983 .

[3]  Shelby D. Hunt,et al.  Marketing Theory: The Philosophy Of Marketing Science , 1983 .

[4]  W. D. Perreault,et al.  Reliability of Nominal Data Based on Qualitative Judgments , 1989 .

[5]  Mary Jo Bitner,et al.  The Service Encounter: Diagnosing Favorable and Unfavorable Incidents: , 1990 .

[6]  W. Sasser,et al.  The profitable art of service recovery. , 1990, Harvard business review.

[7]  H. Hunt.  Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction, and Complaining Behavior , 1991 .

[8]  M. Gilly,et al.  DYNAMICS OF COMPLAINT MANAGEMENT IN THE SERVICE ORGANIZATION , 1991 .

[9]  M. L. Klotz,et al.  Complaining Behavior in Social Interaction , 1992 .

[10]  C. Goodwin,et al.  Consumer responses to service failures: Influence of procedural and interactional fairness perceptions , 1992 .

[11]  E. Lawler,et al.  The empowerment of service workers: what, why, how, and when. , 1992, Sloan management review.

[12]  Mark A. Davis,et al.  A Typology of Retail Failures and Recoveries , 1993 .

[13]  Mark A. Davis,et al.  Antecedents to customer expectations for service recovery , 1994 .

[14]  Mary Jo Bitner,et al.  Critical Service Encounters: The Employee's Viewpoint , 1994 .

[15]  Holly M. Rotalsky,et al.  Tracking service failures and employee recovery efforts , 1995 .

[16]  Susan M. Keaveney,et al.  Customer Switching Behavior in Service Industries: An Exploratory Study , 1995 .

[17]  Thomas O. Jones,et al.  Why Satisfied Customers Defect , 1996 .

[18]  D. Bejou,et al.  A Critical Incident Approach to Examining the Effects of Service Failures on Customer Relationships , 1996 .

[19]  Timothy C. Johnston,et al.  Fixing service failures , 1997 .

[20]  Stephen S. Tax,et al.  The effects of distributive, procedural, and interactional justice on postcomplaint behavior , 1997 .

[21]  Stephen S. Tax,et al.  Customer Evaluations of Service Complaint Experiences: Implications for Relationship Marketing: , 1998 .

[22]  Ruth N. Bolton,et al.  A Model of Customer Satisfaction with Service Encounters Involving Failure and Recovery , 1999 .

[23]  B. Gutek,et al.  Distinguishing between service relationships and encounters , 1999 .

[24]  R. Oliver.  Whence Consumer Loyalty? , 1999 .

[25]  Linda L. Price,et al.  Commercial Friendships: Service Provider--Client Relationships in Context , 1999 .

[26]  K. D. Hoffman,et al.  Hospitality Recovery Strategies: Customer Preference versus Firm Use , 1999 .

[27]  Mary Jo Bitner,et al.  Self-Service Technologies: Understanding Customer Satisfaction with Technology-Based Service Encounters , 2000 .

[28]  Michael A. McCollough,et al.  An Empirical Investigation of Customer Satisfaction after Service Failure and Recovery , 2000 .

[29]  S. Kelley,et al.  Perceived justice needs and recovery evaluation: a contingency approach , 2000 .

[30]  Mary Jo Bitner,et al.  Technology infusion in service encounters , 2000 .

[31]  James G. Maxham.  Service recovery's influence on consumer satisfaction, positive word-of-mouth, and purchase intentions , 2001 .

[32]  Bernard J. Jaworski,et al.  Internet Marketing: Building Advantage in a Networked Economy , 2001 .

[33]  Ruth N. Bolton,et al.  The effect of customers' emotional responses to service failures on their recovery effort evaluations and satisfaction judgments , 2002 .

[34]  Fiona E. Ellis-Chadwick,et al.  New perspectives in internet retailing: a review and strategic critique of the field , 2006 .