Factors influencing Saudi consumers loyalty towards B2C e-commerce

Previous research found that e-retailers experience difficulty to maintain customer loyalty despite of the recent rapid growth in Business to Customer e-commerce applications. Developing and managing customer loyalty and customer retention is very important for the long-term growth of a firm. Numerous studies have empirically examined consumer's loyalty and attitudes in various countries toward the Business to Customer e-commerce. Nevertheless, empirical research on the e-commerce consumer loyalty in the developing Arab countries, are generally limited. Thus, the main objective of this paper is to identify the key factors that influence the extent to which Saudi consumers are loyal towards Business to Customer e-commerce. Next, we draw on extant literatures about hypothesized relationships between e-commerce consumer loyalty and its antecedents to build a conceptual framework on Saudi consumer's loyalty. Then, a survey was conducted among Saudi e-commerce customers in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia using a structured selfadministered questionnaire. The study found that amongst other factors, customer trust and satisfaction influence consumer's loyalty towards B2C e-commerce in Saudi Arabia. The findings assist firms to understand what key factors/areas in e-commerce applications they ought to focus on in order to improve customer loyalty thereby improving revenue.