A typology of online buyers for French wine web sites based on electronic service quality dimensions

Abstract

Purpose Using customers' evaluations of electronic service quality (e‐SQ), the purpose of this paper is to analyze internet buyer behavior and propose a typology of online buyers for wine web sites based on e‐SQ dimensions. Design/methodology/approach In all, 1,813 French internet customers filled in an online questionnaire after completing a specified task on 18 selected web sites selling wine directly to customers. Findings Analysis of the results confirmed the structure of the NetQual scale for wine web sites using structural equation modeling and identified three groups of customers: the “disappointed” the “reassurance seeker” and the “opportunist”. Research limitations/implications This study has some limitations. One of them is related to the fact that the target population is representative of the French internet buyer population and not of the customer profile for the web sites analyzed. Future research should integrate customers of the different web sites analyzed and, in order to have an intercultural comparison, non‐French wine web sites should also be included in future studies. Practical implications The seven dimensions of the NetQual scale are important for consumers when they evaluate wine web sites and contribute to identify three groups of internet buyers of French wine web sites. For each group, this study provides recommendations for practitioners in order to transform visitors into buyers. Originality/value The increasingly systematic use of the internet in consumers' decision‐making processes, combined with the growth in the number of wine web sites, has led researchers and practitioners to examine service quality issues in an online context. Existing typologies do not take into account the importance of e‐SQ dimensions. This paper's typology shows how these dimensions contribute to differentiating the groups.

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