The effect of factors determining logistics service quality on customer satisfaction and loyalty in electronic commerce

With the effect of the latest developments in information and communication technologies and globalization, the growth rate of electronic commerce, whose transaction volume has increased rapidly around the world, has gained high momentum with the COVID 19 pandemic. Thanks to the elimination of geographical borders by electronic commerce, competition for companies with global customer potential has now become global. In this challenging competitive environment of electronic commerce, where customers can choose rival companies with just one click and the need to understand customers' changing demands and needs, companies' ability to satisfy their customers' expectations by effectively meeting them and gaining competitive advantage depends on the performance of the logistics service they offer. Logistics activities, which act as a bridge between the buyer and the seller in electronic commerce, are of strategic importance in terms of satisfying customers and influencing their next shopping preferences. Customers who are satisfied with the logistics service quality will be able to develop loyalty by shopping from the same company again, and customers who are not satisfied will be able to search for a new company. The shopping experiences of the customers will not only affect the possibility of their shopping from the same site again, but will also play a decisive role in the preferences of potential customers with the sharing they will make on various social platforms. For this reason, e-commerce companies' continuous monitoring of how the logistics service quality is evaluated by their customers, and the provision of quality services that will differentiate their companies from their competitors by making the necessary improvements, are effective in both protecting their existing customers and gaining new customers. In the literature reviews; It has been determined that there is no accepted scale on how the factors that determine the quality of logistics service in electronic commerce are evaluated. In addition, it has been observed that a complete and scientific framework has not yet been established about the effect of logistics service quality on customer satisfaction and the effect of customer satisfaction on customer loyalty, and it has been understood that there is a need for a study in this field based on consumer perception. With this study, in which the relevant literature is examined in detail, it is thought that this deficiency will be eliminated. In this context, the effect of logistics service quality on customer satisfaction and the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty were investigated in this research, which focuses on logistics service quality in terms of its importance in the development of electronic commerce. The questionnaire form, which was prepared in line with the purpose of the research, was made available to the participants via an online questionnaire site. The data collected on a voluntary basis from 1562 electronic commerce customers living in Turkey with the convenience sampling method were analyzed using structural equation modeling. According to the results of the research; it has been revealed that the factors of timeliness, order status, order accuracy and order inconsistency management, which are considered in the logistics service quality evaluation of electronic commerce customers, have a positive effect on customer satisfaction. In addition, the positive relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty was confirmed in this research.