E-Commerce & Online Shopping
Mapping the invisible forces that determine whether consumers click 'buy' or abandon their cart.
E-commerce and online shopping research investigates the experiential, strategic, and performance dimensions of digital retail environments. This field examines what drives positive online shopping experiences, how multichannel retail strategies affect firm performance, and how consumers navigate complex purchase journeys that span digital and physical touchpoints. My research demonstrates that online shopping success depends on the orchestration of utilitarian efficiency, hedonic engagement, and trust signals within a coherent customer experience framework. Through mixed-method approaches combining qualitative experience mapping with quantitative performance modeling, I have developed comprehensive measurement instruments and identified the strategic decisions that separate high-performing e-commerce operations from underperformers.
Why This Matters Now
E-commerce continues to grow as a share of total retail, but competition has intensified dramatically. Consumers now expect seamless omnichannel experiences that integrate online browsing, mobile purchasing, in-store pickup, and social commerce. The rise of AI-driven personalization and recommendation engines has raised the stakes for understanding what constitutes a positive shopping experience. Retailers need evidence-based frameworks for evaluating and improving the customer journey across all digital touchpoints.
Dr. Pentina's Contribution
My e-commerce research has produced several widely cited contributions. A foundational study on multichannel coordination and e-commerce outsourcing, published in the Journal of Marketing Channels, demonstrated that the degree of coordination between store and online channels significantly affects online retail performance, while e-commerce outsourcing decisions carry important strategic implications. My research on online shopping experiences, published in the International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management with over 115 citations, identified both utilitarian and hedonic experience dimensions as drivers of browser satisfaction and e-tail performance. I subsequently developed a comprehensive online shopping experience measurement scale through a mixed-method study published in Internet Research, conceptualizing OSE as a second-order construct with four dimensions: practices, context, values, and emotions. My early work on virtual communities as shopping reference groups, published in the Journal of Electronic Commerce Research with 120 citations, demonstrated that online communities function as influential reference groups that shape purchasing decisions through both informational and normative mechanisms. I have also investigated performance implications of online entry timing for store-based retailers, contributing to strategic theory in multichannel retailing.
Key Findings
- Online shopping experience quality significantly affects both browser satisfaction and e-tail performance, operating through utilitarian and hedonic dimensions
- The online shopping experience is a second-order construct comprising practices, context, values, and emotions with 21 subdimensions
- Virtual communities serve as influential shopping reference groups, shaping purchase decisions through expertise-based trust and social identification
- Multichannel coordination between store and online channels is a significant predictor of online retail performance
- E-commerce outsourcing decisions carry strategic performance implications that depend on the nature of capabilities being outsourced
- Online entry timing by store-based retailers has measurable long-term performance implications
Selected Publications
The Role of Virtual Communities as Shopping Reference Groups
Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, vol. 9
Exploring Effects of Online Shopping Experiences on Browser Satisfaction and E-tail Performance
International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, vol. 39
Adoption of social networks marketing by SMEs: exploring the role of social influences and experience in technology acceptance
International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, vol. 7
Effects of Multichannel Coordination and E-Commerce Outsourcing on Online Retail Performance
Journal of Marketing Channels, vol. 16
Exploring social media marketing strategies in SMEs
International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, vol. 7
Performance Implications of Online Entry Timing by Store-Based Retailers: A Longitudinal Investigation
Journal of Retailing, vol. 85
The Roles of Self-discrepancy and Social Support in Young Femalesโ Decisions to Undergo Cosmetic Procedures
Journal of Consumer Behaviour, vol. 8
Information processing and new product success: a metaโanalysis
European Journal of Innovation Management, vol. 10
Research Summary
Dr. Pentina's e-commerce research provides comprehensive frameworks for understanding online shopping experiences, multichannel retail strategy, and virtual community influence on purchasing. Her work establishes the online shopping experience as a multidimensional construct and demonstrates that both utilitarian and hedonic dimensions drive customer satisfaction and retailer performance. Strategic research on multichannel coordination reveals that the integration of store and online channels is a key performance driver, while studies of virtual communities show that online groups function as powerful shopping reference groups. Published in the Journal of Retailing, International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Internet Research, and Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, this research stream offers actionable guidance for retailers optimizing their digital commerce operations.