INTERNET RETAIL IN A DEVELOPING COUNTRY: PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT AND BUSINESS OPERATIONS

This study investigates Internet retailers in a developing country. It aims to investigate the characteristic of business profiles and operations, and to describe performance measurement implemented and its use. Internet-based research was adopted by combining a questionnaire email survey with web content analysis to study Indonesian Internet retailers. The results show that the majority of Indonesian Internet retailers are immature, small size, and without store-presence. The business operation practices, such as ordering, payment, and communication, indicate some differences from those in developed economies. Though Indonesian Internet retailers are still immature, they have measured various aspects of business performance. Those measured more performance indicators are likely to use the information more intensively to support decision making. This study has limitations such as the small number of responses, which might prevent the generalization of the results. The findings could be used by local Internet retailers to improve the business operations and performance measurement, as well as global Internet retailers entering Indonesian market to adopt some local operation practices

Profil dan Proses Bisnis Ritel Online di Indonesia

Makalah ini memaparkan profil ritel online di Indonesia dan proses bisnis yang dilakukan. Metode riset yang digunakan ialah email survey dan didukung dengan web content analysis. Web content analysis dilakukan pada 47 situs ritel online, yang berpartisipasi dalam email survey. Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahwa dua-pertiga dari ritel online beroperasi dengan tanpa adanya toko fisik, dan hampir semua ritel online masih berumur 5 tahun ke bawah. Proses bisnis ritel online menunjukkan bahwa selain shopping chart, metode pemesanan (ordering) menggunakan jalur-jalur komunikasi seperti email, SMS, telepon, dan juga Yahoo Messenger. Selanjutnya, metode pembayaran paling banyak dilakukan ialah transfer bank (BCA, Mandiri, BNI), lalu PayPal dan cash-on-delivery serta untuk pembayaran dari luar negeri dengan transfer lewat Western Union. Pengiriman menggunakan perusahaan jasa antar, dan berdasarkan urutan yang sering digunakan ialah TIKI JNE, TIKI, dan Pos Indonesia. Secara umum, hasil yang didapatkan menunjukkan bahwa metode pemesanan dan pembayaran yang ada saat ini berbeda dengan praktik e-commerce yang terjadi di negara dengan lingkungan e-commerce yang lebih maju

PENGUKURAN KINERJA RITEL ONLINE DI INDONESIA

Meskipun telah cukup banyak ritel online yang muncul, pengetahuan tentang bagaimana mereka mengukur kinerja bisnis online tersebut masih belum banyak diketahui. Literatur menunjukkan bahwa pengukuran kinerja mempunyai peran strategis dan operasional. Studi ini bertujuan mempelajari indikator kinerja yang dipakai oleh ritel online di Indonesia. Berdasarkan literature, indikator kinerja dikelompokkan ke dalam 5 aspek yaitu financial, marketing, customer, operation, dan web. Metode riset yang digunakan ialah survey online melalui email kepada para pengelola ritel online di Indonesia. Temuan studi ini di antaranya menunjukkan bahwa ada 5 indikator teratas yang digunakan oleh hampir semua ritel online, dengan dua indikator yaitu: on-time delivery dan unique visitors yang khusus untuk ritel online dan tiga lainnya yaitu number of orders, total sales, dan profit margin merupakan indikator yang juga dipakai oleh ritel (toko) tradisional. Temuan lainnya yaitu mayoritas ritel online tidak menekankan pada berbagai indikator tentang customer acquisition dan customer retention. Secara keseluruhan, meskipun ritel online di Indonesia masih dalam tahap perkembangan awal, mereka telah rasional dalam mengevaluasi kinerja bisnisnya yang ditunjukkan dengan kompleksitas indikator yang digunakan

SMS Banking in Saudi Arabia

Banking has always been a highly information intensive activity particularly over the last few decades that information and Communication technology (ICT) has affected the banking industry heavily. The appearance of SMS banking services has changed the nature of financial services delivery costumers. One of the most growing phenomenons in financial services is mobile internet banking. The purpose of this study is explorer the adoption of SMS banking among Saudi customers, an emerging Middle East economy in the area. The present study modifies the technology acceptance model and applies it to banks customers in Saudi Arabia. By providing SMS banking services, banks can get notable cost saving, reduce their branch networks, and improve efficiency. But since customers do not adopt and use these service, banks cannot profit from them. A numbers of Saudi banks recently have started to offer SMS banking services to their customers, but the fact it got a respectable reaction from people’ point of view. A model of TAM with factors from perceived innovation attributes and the personal characteristics of adopters have been developed to identify the most factors that influence SMS banking adoption among Saudi customers. The result of this study were contribute were positively related to SMS banking adoption as hypothesized. The positive association between combination among all independent variables (ease of use, usefulness, credibility, compatibility and observability) was supported

Current state on internet growth and usage in Saudi Arabia and its ability to support e-commerce development

It is widely recognized that the Internet has been rapidly growing and massively used in recent years. Previous studies have revealed that this is true for Internet users across the world. Likewise it is reported, lack of ICT infrastructures is one of the main reasons behind lack of spread of E-Commerce. The study attempted to understand the state of Internet growth and activities usage and its ability to support E-Commerce development. Little attention has been paid to testing particular questions in this study which proper investigation can help in understanding the prospects of the development and adoption of E-Commerce. The current study will attempt to confirm whether similar growth and usage of the Internet is also happening in Saudi Arabia and whether this will help in establishing a platform of E-Commerce development. Quantitative data was gathered from 606 Saudis living in various parts of Saudi Arabia. Four questions related to the use of the Internet in Saudi Arabia are tested. The outcome shows that the findings are similar to those of other countries. In addition, individuals’ readiness to use the Internet as their main shopping medium is approved by more than half of the sample used

Managing Trust of E-customers in Online Shopping – A Case Study of Saudi Arabia

Purpose: Developing countries are still dealing with basic issues in promoting online shopping. One such issue faced by ecommerce since inception is the lack of trust of the e-customers about the overall online shopping concept. Saudi Arabia is the largest economy in the middle east going through huge reforms in economic and social areas. The main aim of the current study was to explore the level of importance a Saudi e-customer puts on trust in online shopping to motivate them to adopt it. Methodology: The study is descriptive and quantitative based on primary data collected from respondents including Saudis and non-Saudis living in Saudi Arabia. Data was collected by close-ended structured questionnaire. The intensity of response on importance of trust was taken on five point Likert scale. To encourage high response rate and reliable data the English questionnaire was translated into Arabic language as it is the spoken language of the country. To get the results to satisfy the objectives of the study, following statistics analyzed the primary data namely mean, frequency, percentage, and t-test to measure the difference between the Saudis and Non-Saudis. Implications: The results will be useful for the e-retailers especially in Saudi Arabia and middle-east and also outside the region. The e-retailers can understand the concern area of e-customers and thus plan to minimize it to build e-customers trust. Limitations: The study is based on data from Saudi Arabia, therefore for generalization of the findings the same study may be conducted in other regions. Keyword: E-retailer, E-consumer, Trust, online shopping, Saudi Arabia DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/11-6-0