Determinants of online merchant rating: Content analysis of consumer comments about Yahoo merchants

Online merchant rating is an important determinant of online merchant success, and plays an essential role in building consumer trust. Based on a rich data set collected from Yahoo's merchant review system, we applied content analysis to identify the most important factors that affect the overall rating of online merchants. We find that consumers in general put more weight on post-transaction services than online-transaction services when they rate online merchants' performance. This research can help e-commerce practitioners understand potentially problematic areas with their business. This research will also provide some easy-to-implement strategies for e-tailing managers to improve their service quality as well as their overall rating in the online feedback systems.