Assessing the relationships between e-tail success and product and Web site factors

The probability of e-tail success may be related to the products sold and the service that online shoppers receive. We investigate these possibilities using data collected on 755 e-tailers from BizRate.com in 2000 and 2004. The results indicate that the likelihood of success is negatively related to the e-tailer's reliance on selling experience goods and positively related to the number of ordering methods and e-tailer prominence, while the relationship between e-tail success and the number of product categories sold is moderated by the presence of features that allowshoppers to search for products. Further,we find that while successful e-tailers typically added service-related features between 2000 and 2004, these e-tailers reduced shoppers’ contact ability over these years. This research has implications for marketing strategy pertaining to the products e-tailers should sell and the site features and services that e-tailers should provide.