Title: Perceived service process in e-service delivery system: B2C online retailers performance ranking by TOPSIS

Authors: Piyush Gupta; Amit Sachan; Vivek Mishra

Addresses: Birla Global University, Idco Plot No. 2, Institutional Area, Gothapatna, Bhubaneswar –751029, Odisha, India ' Indian Institute of Management Ranchi, Prabandhan Nagar, Nayasarai Road, Ranchi – 835 303, Jharkhand, India ' Birla Global University, Idco Plot No. 2, Institutional Area, Gothapatna, Bhubaneswar –751029, Odisha, India

Abstract: Significant work in service domain has focused on customer journey within e-service delivery system process (e-SDSP). Few studies have focused on process-centric approach to customer journey during delivery of e-services. This study aims to investigate the performance assessment of three online retailers (alternatives) using perceived service process during different stages of e-SDSP as a criterion for decision-making. TOPSIS is used in this paper to rate and evaluate multiple online retailers. Based on perceived service process as the criterion, results show that online retailer-2 outperforms other two online retailers. This study is one of the first to rate online retailers by utilising customer-perceived service process (latent variables) as a decision-making criterion throughout e-SDSP. The finding suggests that perceived searching process is the most essential criterion for decision-making, followed by the perceived after-sales service process, the perceived agreement process, and the perceived fulfilment process. Implications, limitations, and future scope are also discussed.

Keywords: TOPSIS; service process; service delivery; online retail; performance evaluation; India.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSTM.2024.138237

International Journal of Services Technology and Management, 2024 Vol.29 No.1, pp.1 - 17

Received: 27 Feb 2023
Accepted: 10 Oct 2023
Published online: 30 Apr 2024 *

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