A Framework for Relationships in eCommerce Websites

Introduction

The past two years have shown unprecedented growth in eCommerce and a host of new opportunities has emerged because of the global COVID19 pandemic. Consumers shifted their purchase patterns from in-store to online. Consequently, retailers have had to go online to remain competitive (Al-maaitah, Tha’er Majali, & Almaaitah, 2021). Research pundits argue the success of going online lies in the website’s ability to create and maintain relationships with customers through direct interaction (Adjei & Clark, 2010; Campbell, 2019; Ha & Lee, 2012; Otieno & Getuno, 2016). Adam and Deans (2000) observed that firms used websites for a variety of purposes that includes communications, transactions and relationship building. They found firms moving from one type of usage to another according to their marketing strategy and the responsiveness of their customers. Typically, firms would pursue one of two usages, depending on the target market. In most cases, they set up the websites for communication purposes, and over time use them for online transactions and relationship building. Firms may also start using websites for building trusted relationships that then move on to facilitate transactions. However, increasingly firms are recognizing the need to be relational focused, evident in the shift from a transactional basis to a relationship one (Campbell, 2019).

Indeed, the increasing use of websites in B2C is experiencing a paradigm shift from transitional to relationship marketing. While relationship marketing is well established in offline setting, the paradigm shift is warranting examining the key elements of building relationships with customers on the Internet. The act of establishing, developing, and maintaining successful online relational exchanges or relational marketing constitutes a major shift in marketing theory and practice (Adjei & Clark, 2010; Akrout, Diallo Mbaye Fall, Akrout Wafa, & Chandon Jean-Louis, 2016; Al-Adwan, Kokash, Adwan, Alhorani, & Yaseen, 2020; van Tonder & Petzer, 2018).

The aim of building relationship when selling is to foster trust in customers to enable the delivery of value over an extended period (Agariya & Singh, 2011). Mimicking the same in an online context is challenging, that is, to get eCommerce websites foster trust with customers for the exchange of mutual benefits. While it can be argued that the way relationships formed offline are different to offline, a common thread between them is the dyadic nature of the interactions (Storch, 2002). However, this has not been studied in the context of managing or advancing online relationships. Although online relationships have been discussed in the psychology literature, they were mostly interpersonal relationships, not in the context of eCommerce (Collins & Feeney, 2004; Cozby, 1973; Harvey & Omarzu, 1997). The current research lies at the intersection of relationship-building theory (Collins & Feeney, 2004; Morgan & Hunt, 1994; O. N. Ndubisi, 2007) and eCommerce theory (Al-Adwan et al., 2020; Bhagat, 2009; Joinson, Reips, Buchanan, & Schofield, 2010; Metzger, 2004; N. O. Ndubisi, Malhotra, & Wah, 2008; Noble & Phillips, 2004). Interaction, however, appears to be independent, that is, individuals decide on the amount of interaction to advance the relationship. Therefore, there is a need to examine the relationship development process in its entirety to determine independent variables for creating customer relationships in the online context. The current study considered the role of self-disclosure and privacy for managing online relationships for new and repeat purchase customers from the vendor’s perspective.