Communicating While Distributing: Little Things That Matter to Consumers' Trust and Confidence in E-Commerce

Purpose: As a modern distribution channel, the growth of e-commerce has brought more competitive pressures on e-marketplace, making trust and loyalty become top priority. As one of many sources of trust and loyalty issues, understanding the effect of careless marketing communications on consumers’ perception is critical. This study examines the effect of careless marketing communications (e.g. misspellings, incomplete information) in website on consumers’ trust toward and confidence in purchasing a product from an e-commerce. Research design and methodology: An experimental research design (with two experimental studies) was used in to test the hypotheses. Study 1 employs a single-factor design and study 2 employs a 2x2, full-factorial, between-subjects design. Results: Results of the two experimental studies (Study 1, n = 60; Study 2, n = 140) demonstrate that simple mistakes significantly decrease consumers’ trust toward an e-commerce and their confidence to purchase from the e-commerce. The effect is found to be significant in the case of high-involvement products; whereas no effect is found in low-involvement products. Conclusions: E-commerce relies heavily on carefully crafted marketing communications to establish consumers’ trust and confidence. These studies confirm the equal importance of distribution and communication in maintaining consumers’ trust and sustainability of the business.