Improving adoption of E-Procurement solutions through online B2C
Transcript of Improving adoption of E-Procurement solutions through online B2C
Eindhoven, March 2010
ing. Industrial Engineering Student identity number 0518603
in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Science
in Innovation Management
Company Supervisor: drs. J.P.H. van der Linden Supervisors: Prof.dr. A.J. van Weele, TU/e, ITEM Dr.ir. R.M. Dijkman, TU/e, IS
Improving adoption of E-Procurement solutions through online B2C website functionality
by
Christian Maltha
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TUE. Department Industrial Engineering and Innovation Sciences. Series Master Theses Innovation Management Subject headings: E-Procurement, E-Commerce, User Adoption, Online B2C Functionalities, B2C to B2B Functionality Transition
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March, 2010
Master Thesis
Improving adoption of E‐Procurement
solutions through online B2C website
functionality
The need for an identification framework for
online B2C functionalities
By C.S. Maltha Bachelor Industrial Engineering
Student identity number 0518603
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Science
in Innovation Management
Supervisors:
Company supervisor: drs. J.P.H. van der Linden University first supervisor: prof. dr. A.J. van Weele University second supervisor: dr. ir. R.M. Dijkman
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I. Abstract This master thesis examines how to improve the user adoption of E‐Procurement solutions within
companies by including the most important functionalities found in the online business to consumer
world. This master thesis deals with the identification of website functionalities, the customer
evaluation of website functionalities, the determination of the most promising functionalities for usage
within E‐Procurement solutions and the assessment of functionalities on fit for usage within E‐
Procurement solutions. The subject is examined from an academic as well as a practical perspective and
concludes with a general conceptual framework based on the empirical research conducted within
Rabobank Concern Inkoop. This conceptual framework can be used by the Rabobank as well as other
practitioners to systematically monitor online websites to identify new functionality opportunities for E‐
Procurement solutions.
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II. Summary Business to business (B2B) E‐Procurement solutions are important for many companies as they are
expected to deliver many purchasing benefits like leveraged buying, process transparency and
purchasing overall cost reductions (Puschmann et al., 2005; Harink , 2003; van Weele, 2003; Reunis,
2007). To gain these benefits a successful implementation of the E‐Procurement solutions is required
and for this the end user adoption plays an important role, which is captured by many of the success
and failure factors of E‐Procurement systems found in literature (Angeles et al.,2007; Reunis, 2007;
Zahay et al., 2004). The end user also plays an important role in the success of websites in the online
business to consumer (B2C) world. This online B2C world has grown tremendously in the last decade as
many consumers have discovered the benefits of online purchasing. Many companies have developed
websites which offer many services and features to attract new and attain existing customers (Huang et
al., 2006). The large increase of popularity of the online B2C world gave rise to the idea that there are
opportunities from the online B2C world to improve the user adoption of B2B E‐Procurement solutions
within companies. To demarcate the scope of the research this study focuses on ease of use as an
important success factor of user adoption of E‐Procurement solutions and focuses on functionalities
offered to consumers in the online B2C world. This study assumes that including more user preferred
functionalities will increase the ease of use of the E‐Procurement solution and thereby increase the user
adoption of the E‐Procurement solution. The goal of this study is thereby to identify the most promising
functionalities offered in the online B2C world for usage within B2B E‐Procurement solutions and to
assess a fit for usage of these functionalities within a B2B E‐Procurement environment.
This study is conducted at Rabobank Concern Inkoop which is part of the Rabobank Group. Purchasing
plays an important role within the Rabobank Group because they spend over €2 billion on purchasing
every year. To gain more purchasing benefits Rabobank started already 14 years ago with the
development of their first E‐Procurement system called the RaboShop. This RaboShop was gradually
improved over the years and recently Rabobank developed a completely redesigned version of the
RaboShop based on SAP. The Rabobank has a strategy of “seducing/tempting” users to increasingly use
its E‐Procurement system and end user adoption is therefore very important for the success of the
RaboShop. The importance of end user adoption was recognized by the Rabobank as already early in the
development phase of the new RaboShop the end users where involved for user feedback. Furthermore
much attention was given to end user informing, end user training and end user feedback sessions after
implementation to improve the user adoption process. Continuous improvements to keep the RaboShop
attractive for its end users are thereby very important for the success of the RaboShop. The rapid
growth of functionalities offered to consumers in the online B2C world provides a good opportunity for
the Rabobank to improve the ease of use of their E‐Procurement system by including those
functionalities which are found to be most important by consumers in the B2C world. This resulted in
the following main research question:
Which online B2C functionalities are important to create further adoption and success of the E‐
Procurement system of the Rabobank?
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To answer this question this study has dealt with the development of a structural identification process
on available online B2C functionalities, the customer evaluation of these identified functionalities and
the analysis to recognize the most important B2C functionalities based on the customer evaluation. The
structural identification process was used to assess nearly 277 popular B2C websites on offered
functionalities. This resulted in a total of 78 identified online B2C functionalities which were categorized
based on the purchasing steps of Zhang (2008). The customer evaluation was done by using a digital
survey which was sent to 452 RaboShop users and 67 consumers from the social network of the
researcher. The results of the survey were analyzed based on four analyses and this resulted in a list of
the top 10 most promising online B2C functionalities for usage within the RaboShop.
This study further more dealt with the fit assessment of these top 10 most important functionalities
found for usage within the RaboShop: Which B2C functionalities are already in the system in the form of
a B2B equivalent functionality and is this equivalent functionality sufficiently developed. This fit
assessment was based on preliminary research, documentation within the Rabobank, user feedback
sessions, interviews with E‐Commerce and E‐Procurement experts and end users of the RaboShop. For
those functionalities which did not have a B2B equivalent in the RaboShop, an analysis on a fit for usage
in the RaboShop was conducted based on a fit with the business determinants: strategy, processes and
technology. A fit on functionality usage within the RaboShop was assessed using four steps. The first
step was to determine a B2B equivalent functionality. The second step was to evaluate the functionality
on novelty within the RaboShop. This resulted in a matrix with four quadrants which is given in figure 1.
Equivalent Functionality already in the RaboShop?
Yes No
Equivalen
t Functionality on the Req
uest for
change list?
Yes
Quadrant A: Improve Quadrant B: Assess implementation
Betalen met iDeal Order status overzicht per e‐mail of sms
Winkelwagen gebruiksgemak
Uitgebreide zoek functies
FAQ
No
Quadrant C: Verify Quadrant D: Assess fit
Levertijd indicatie
Klant account registratie voor snel bestel mogelijkheden
Diverse lijsten (Meest verkocht, best bekeken)
Product recensies van andere consumenten
Online vragen, evaluatie of klachten formulier
Figure 1: Online B2C functionalities matrix check for usage on fit within the RaboShop
The four functionalities of Quadrant B and D were further examined in the third and fourth step because
their B2B equivalent functionality was not found in the RaboShop. The third step was to asses those
functionalities which were not already in the RaboShop on the business determinants strategy, process
and technology. The fourth and final step was to verify that including the new functionality into the E‐
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Procurement system would indeed increase the ease of use of the end users. The results of these
analyses are given in figure 2.
Nr. B2C Functionality Strategy Process Technology impact
1 Order status overzicht per e‐mail of sms Yes Yes Low
2 Diverse lijsten (Meest verkocht, meest bekeken) Yes Yes High
3 Product recensies van andere consumenten Yes Yes high
4 Online vragen, evaluatie of klachten formulier Yes Yes Medium
Figure 2: Analyses on business determinants of functionalities in Quadrant B and D
Those functionalities of which the technology impact is low can be implemented relatively easy while
the other functionalities which score medium and high on the technology impact require significant
more changes. Implementation should definitely be considered by the Rabobank as these functionalities
were very important in the online B2C world.
Monitoring the online B2C markets on a regular basis is important because many functionalities on the
internet are relatively new like “twitter” and iDeal” and evaluation of their importance can change
rapidly. iDeal for example was introduced in 20051 and is already one of the most important
functionalities on the internet. Twitter was introduced in 20062 and is rising really fast as many websites
have added twitter functionality. To support the monitoring of the online B2C world the frame work was
developed. This framework is based on the empirical research conducted and can be used to
systematically monitor the online B2C market for new functionality opportunities by the Rabobank. The
framework is presented in a general form and can thereby also be used by other practitioners within the
field of E‐Procurement to identify functionality opportunities. The framework consists of two parts of
which the first is related to the identification and evaluation of the functionalities in the online B2C
world and the second is related to the assessment of functionalities in a B2B E‐Procurement
environment. The framework consists of nine steps and is given in figure 3.
1 Website: www.ideal.nl 2 Website: www.twitter.com
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III. Acknowledgement This report is the end result of my graduation project for my Master in Innovation Management study at
the Technical University of Eindhoven (TU/e). The Master Thesis has been carried out at the
procurement department of Rabobank Netherlands, being Rabobank Concern Inkoop. The process of
the study and the creation of the master thesis has been a very challenging experience and have
provided me with valuable knowledge which will assist me in the rest of my engineering career. The
study was very challenging and I could not have achieved it without the support of others. Therefore this
chapter is dedicated to those who supported me during this master thesis.
Firstly I would like to thank my supervisors from the Rabobank, Jan‐Pieter van der Linden and Joost
Paalvast. Without their support this master thesis would not have been created. Both formed a very
important role in the guidance of the entire project and helped the researcher to keep on track. Jan‐
Pieter van der Linden, you supported me during the entire process which had many ups and downs.
Your efforts to keep me on track and to provide me with more than enough resources to fulfill this study
meant very much to me. Furthermore your knowledge on E‐Procurement systems and E‐Commerce was
very important in the entire process. You spent a lot of time on guiding me and I would like to sincerely
thank for this. Joost Paalvast, I would like to thank you for guiding me and providing me with important
knowledge on E‐Procurement en E‐Commerce. Your inputs were always very challenging and have
several times provided me with important new insights. You were definitely an important source of
information and an important contributor in this master thesis. Furthermore we both share a certain
fondness for gadgets which we often talked about and I really enjoyed those conversations. I would like
to sincerely thank you for your time and knowledge invested into this master thesis.
Secondly, I would like to thank my supervisors from Eindhoven University of Technology, Arjan van
Weele and Remco Dijkman. Without either of you this master thesis would not have been completed.
Arjan van Weele, you took over the master thesis project as a first supervisor and together we made
several hard decisions which truly had a positive effect on the end result. The master thesis gained
relevance as well as focus by those decisions and I would like to thank you for that. Furthermore your
support and knowledge helped me to increase the academic value of the study. I am really thankful that
you supported me during the roller coaster ride with many ups and downs these few months have been.
Remco Dijkman, you supported me during the entire process even when the road was very bumpy and
unclear this meant a lot to me. You provided me with important insights in the collection of data and
several academic skills which helped me to increase the academic value of the study. I would really like
to thank you for your inputs and time invested into this study.
Thirdly I would like to thank everybody who contributed to this research study in various ways. I would
like to thank those who took the time to return the survey and I would like to thank those who were
interviewed. Furthermore I would like to thank my family for their confidence in my capabilities and the
support and motivation they gave me during the Master Thesis project.
Chris Maltha
Maart, 2010
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Content
I. Abstract .................................................................................................................................................. i
II. Summary ............................................................................................................................................... ii
III. Acknowledgement................................................................................................................................ vi
1. Research ................................................................................................................................................ 4
1.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 4
1.2 Practical context of the study ....................................................................................................... 5
1.3 Theoretical context of the study ................................................................................................... 9
1.4 Problem definition and research questions ................................................................................ 10
1.5 Research methodology ............................................................................................................... 11
1.6 Research objectives .................................................................................................................... 12
1.7 Report Outline ............................................................................................................................. 13
2. Theoretical Background ...................................................................................................................... 14
2.1 B2C E‐Commerce ........................................................................................................................ 14
2.2 Factors influencing the B2C purchasing decision ....................................................................... 15
2.3 Online B2C website functionalities ............................................................................................. 16
2.4 B2C Purchasing models ............................................................................................................... 18
2.5 B2C E‐Commerce conclusion ...................................................................................................... 19
2.6 B2B E‐Procurement systems ....................................................................................................... 20
2.7 B2B E‐Procurement importance ................................................................................................. 22
2.8 B2B E‐Procurement user adoption as a success factors ............................................................. 24
2.9 The E‐Procurement system of the Rabobank: “The RaboShop” ................................................ 26
2.10 Analysis and evaluation of the RaboShop ................................................................................... 30
2.11 B2B E‐Procurement conclusion ................................................................................................... 31
3. Empirical research ............................................................................................................................... 32
3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 32
3.2 Survey design .............................................................................................................................. 32
3.3 Survey results .............................................................................................................................. 35
3.4 Functionality assessment on B2B E‐Procurement fit .................................................................. 40
3.5 Empirical Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 43
4. B2C to B2B functionality identification and assessment framework ................................................. 45
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4.1 Part I: B2C functionality identification and evaluation ............................................................... 46
4.2 Part II: B2B functionality transformation .................................................................................... 49
4.3 Functionality Identification and Assessment framework ........................................................... 52
5. Conclusions & limitations ................................................................................................................... 53
5.1 Feedback to the main research question ................................................................................... 53
5.2 Recommendations for the company and practitioners .............................................................. 55
5.3 Recommendations for future research ....................................................................................... 56
5.4 Limitations of the study .............................................................................................................. 56
6. References .......................................................................................................................................... 58
7. Appendices .......................................................................................................................................... 62
7.1 Appendix I ................................................................................................................................... 62
7.2 Appendix II .................................................................................................................................. 63
7.3 Appendix III ................................................................................................................................. 66
List of Figures and Tables Figure 1.1: Rabobank Group overview ......................................................................................................... 6
Figure 1.2: Research model ........................................................................................................................ 11
Figure 1.3: Report outline ........................................................................................................................... 13
Figure 2.1: Zhang (2008), purchasing transaction model ........................................................................... 19
Figure 2.2: Cost reduction vs. investments in E‐Procurement, Van Weele (2003) ..................................... 23
Figure 2.3: Example of the RaboShop ......................................................................................................... 26
Figure 2.4: Strategic procurement RaboShop ............................................................................................. 28
Figure 2.5: Tactical procurement RaboShop ............................................................................................... 29
Figure 2.6: Operational procurement RaboShop ........................................................................................ 30
Figure 3.1: Empirical Research overview .................................................................................................... 32
Figure 3.2: Promising B2C functionalities novelty check Matrix ................................................................ 42
Figure 4.1: Online B2C functionality assessment steps .............................................................................. 46
Figure 4.2: Online B2C classification framework ........................................................................................ 47
Figure 4.3: B2C functionality assessment steps for B2B E‐Procurement fit ............................................... 49
Figure 4.4: Transformation of the Zhang (2008) purchasing functionality into a van Weele (2005)
purchasing functionality ............................................................................................................................. 49
Figure 4.5: B2B equivalent evaluation matrix ............................................................................................. 50
Figure 4.6: B2C Identification, evaluation and B2B assessment framework .............................................. 52
Figure 5.1: Online B2C functionalities matrix check for usage on fit within the RaboShop ....................... 54
Figure 5.2: Online B2C functionality identification, evaluation and B2B fit assessment framework ......... 55
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Table 3.1: Functionality identification & Categorization of ww.Bol.com ................................................... 33
Table 3.2: Results survey General Overview ............................................................................................... 35
Table 3.3: Results survey most important findings of the general survey questions ................................. 35
Table 3.4: Results survey most frequently used functionalities ................................................................. 36
Table 3.5: Results survey best valued functionalities overall ..................................................................... 37
Table 3.6: Results survey top three best valued functionalities per category............................................ 37
Table 3.7: Results survey most important functionalities young (<35 Year) consumers ........................... 38
Table 3.8: Results survey most important functionalities frequent online purchase consumer ............... 38
Table 3.9: Most promising online B2C functionalities ............................................................................... 39
Table 3.10: B2C transformation to B2B equivalent functionalities ............................................................ 40
Table 3.11: Promising B2C functionalities novelty check ........................................................................... 41
Table 3.12: B2C Functionality assessment on business fit .......................................................................... 43
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1. Research
1.1 Introduction In the last decade internet shopping has become an important purchasing channel for many consumers.
A large shift in consumer purchasing channel preference is occurring as many consumers are becoming
increasingly accustomed with the ease of use and attractiveness of online purchasing. This shift is
probably best illustrated by looking at the Dutch Santa Claus shopping’s during the last holiday season of
2009. According to Thuiswinkel.org3 the Dutch Santa spent over €170 million on presents bought online,
which is an increase of 31% compared to the previous year. What is even more impressive is that beside
the 8 million Dutch consumers which purchased online before, about 1.2 million Dutch consumers
purchased online for the first time. The online consumers are becoming increasingly acquainted with all
the new functionalities developed by websites to attract new and attain existing customers. An
important reason for the increased popularity of online purchasing in the business to consumer (B2C)
world is ease of use of online purchasing4.
In the last decade the adoption of business to business (B2B) electronic procurement (E‐Procurement)
has also rapidly increased. A study by Wyld (2004) reported already in 2004 that nearly half of all the
American companies used E‐Procurement systems. Many companies have recognized the importance of
E‐Procurement systems as purchasing accounts for the majority of organizational spending (Nelson et
al., 2001). The developments on E‐Procurement technologies have grown enormously during the last
decade as hardware has become increasingly faster and software increasingly standardized.
In both the online B2C and B2B E‐Procurement world the consumer plays an important role in the
success. In the online B2C world websites need to attain existing and attract new consumers to sell
products and in the B2B E‐Procurement world the system often needs users to adopt the system and
purchase the products though the E‐Procurement system to prevent purchases outside the system
(Reunis, 2007). Developing an E‐Procurement system that is attractive and easy to use for the users is
therefore very important. The large increase in popularity of the online B2C market could also affect the
success of E‐Procurement systems as E‐Procurement users are getting increasingly acquainted to all the
new features developed in the B2C world during their personal online shopping. This could result in a
decreased user satisfaction of E‐Procurement users. This has triggered the idea that E‐Procurement
systems can be improved by adding those features which are truly important for consumers.
From an academic point of view much research is conducted on B2C E‐Commerce as well as B2B E‐
Procurement. Much academic research is for example conducted on factors which influence the
purchasing decision of the customer in the online B2C world. Furthermore much academic research on
the success and fail factors for the implementation of E‐Procurements as well as the benefits of E‐
Procurement usage was found. While the importance of online B2C shopping as well as the importance
of E‐Procurement systems is recognized by many academic researchers and practitioners, limited
research interest was given to the effects both research fields have on each other on consumer
3 Website: www.thuiswinkel.org 4 Website: www.mediaonderzoek.nl
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attractiveness. This gap in literature is important because the rapid growth of the online B2C market and
the large increase of website features offered by websites to consumers (Huang et al., 2006) could lead
the E‐Procurement user to purchase products outside the E‐Procurement system. This is important
because the success of E‐Procurement solutions depends for a large part on the (internal) users (Angeles
et al., 2007). This research aims at reducing this gap in literature by identifying the most promising
functionalities found in the online B2C world and assesses a fit of these functionalities in a B2B E‐
Procurement solution.
The outline of the report will be that in the first chapter further defines the problem and the relevance
of the problem. In the second chapter a literature review on relevant literature is conducted to support
the study. In the third chapter an empirical analysis is conducted to identify and assess the most
important online B2C functionalities for the Rabobank. In the fourth chapter a preliminary framework is
presented based on the findings in literature and the empirical research. In the fifth chapter the
conclusions and limitations of the research are discussed.
1.2 Practical context of the study This study is conducted at Rabobank Concern Inkoop which is part of the Rabobank Group. The
Rabobank Group is a worldwide financial service provider. The main market of the Rabobank Group is
the Netherlands. The Rabobank Group consists of a central organization (Rabobank Netherlands), 161
independent local banks, a large number of international offices and several affiliates5. Nearly 60.000
people are employed divided over 43 countries, including the 45.000 employees in the Netherlands6. In
the Dutch market the Rabobank serves over 9 million customers which are mainly served through the
local banks. The Rabobank is a cooperative bank in which the local banks are self‐governed by members
of the cooperation. Formally the local banks are thereby the mother organization of the central
organization Rabobank Netherlands. Rabobank Netherlands has a supportive and advisory role in the
organization. The role of Rabobank Netherlands is furthermore to monitor the overall business activities
and too reported to the Dutch Bank (“De Nederlandse Bank”).
5 Rabo Document: “Corporate presentation Engels December 2008” 6 Website: www.jaarverslagenrabobank.nl
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Figure 1.1: Rabobank Group overview
The Rabobank Group has a total purchasing spend of over €2 billion7. Purchasing plays an important role
in the performance of the Rabobank, which is illustrated by the fact that 60% of the total spend of the
Rabobank Netherlands is purchasing spend8. The importance of purchasing is recognized by the
Rabobank Group and therefore they founded “Rabobank Concern Inkoop”. The goal of Rabobank
Concern Inkoop is to organize the purchasing function within the Rabobank Group to maximize the
results by the creation of renewable and sustainable collaboration relations9. Local banks, Rabobank
Netherlands and affiliated institutes can purchase products and services through central contracts or
framework agreements with suppliers arranged by Rabobank Concern Inkoop. In the current situation,
local banks, Rabobank Netherlands and affiliated institutes are (fairly) free to purchasing products
everywhere they prefer. Their only obligation they have is to involve Rabobank Concern Inkoop for
purchasing larger than €50.000,‐. This involvement has a supportive function and does not enforce local
banks, Rabobank Netherlands or affiliated institutes to follow the advice10. Other services provided by
Rabobank Concern Inkoop are contract support and spend analysis. To support the internal purchasing
Rabobank has developed an Electronic Procurement (E‐Procurement) system which is elaborated next.
The Rabobank started 14 years ago with the development of their first E‐Procurement system called the
RaboShop. Back then, not many companies were using the internet for purchasing and the RaboShop
was well ahead of its time. The main products categories offered in the RaboShop were office supplies,
7 Rabo Document: “Corporate presentation Engels December 2008” 8 Rabo Document: “Corporate presentation Engels December 2008” 9 Rabo Document: “Jaarplan 2008” 10 Rabo Document: “Business plan RCI 2006‐2008, inkoop mandaatbrief 2005”
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relation gifts, press‐work and supplies like printing paper for cash machines. In 1997 the RaboShop was
improved by adding functionalities like workflow support and manager purchase approval. In 1999 a last
redesign improvement was made to support the front and back office applications throughout the
entire process from ordering to financial support to after service and returning products. The goals of
the first RaboShop were to reduce the administrative costs of order processing and to increase the
purchasing power towards suppliers11.
Recently Rabobank launched a completely new designed version of the RaboShop. This new version of
the RaboShop is no longer custom build but is based on SAP12 which is a well know ERP system. The
goals of the new RaboShop are maximization of process efficiency, increase of contract compliance and
increase of volume‐bundling. The new RaboShop has over 15.000 users divided over local banks (12.500
users), Rabobank Netherlands (2.500 users) and affiliates institutions (200 users)13. Together they
purchase approximately €200 million annually through the RaboShop. Due to the cooperative structure,
Rabobank cannot enforce Rabobank Netherlands, local banks or affiliated institutes to use the
RaboShop. For each of them the RaboShop is one of the available purchasing channels. Since there is no
mandate which enforces the usage of the RaboShop, there is a continuous need to improve the
RaboShop in order to attain existing users and attract new users within the Rabobank Group. Many of
the 15.000 users of the RaboShop are non‐professional purchasers who don’t purchase products on a
daily basis. When they need a product they want it fast and easy and therefore ease of purchase is very
important for them.
11 Rabo Document: “Vijftien jaar E‐Procurement bij Rabobank” 12 Website: www.sap.com 13 Rabo Document: “Raboshop status v5”
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As the introduction already mentioned many consumers purchasing online and therefore it can be
assumed that many of these 15.000 users also purchase products on the internet for personal usage at
home. The internet online B2C world offers many functionalities to satisfy existing and attract new
customers.
Nike14 for example offers customers the ability to design their own personal shoe through their website.
This shoe is then developed and delivered to the customer. This gives the customer the additional value
of buying a unique product and creating a personal touch with the product which extends far beyond
buying a shoe at the local shoe store. Dell.com15 for examples offers customers the ability to completely
configure their computer or laptop to their wishes and budgets. This enables customers to get a product
which is best suited for them instead of a product which is best suited for a specific target group of
customers. Other examples are the suggestions made by Bol.com16 on interesting products. These
suggestions are calculated based on user historical data and other customer purchase data. This assists
consumers in the online B2C world in fulfilling a purchase need. These kinds of technologies are found in
many other websites like eBay17 and amazone.com18. Furthermore the price and feature comparing
abilities offered by many comparing sites19,20 are good examples of functionalities offered in the online
B2C world which increase the ease of use for the customer.
The RaboShop does not have many of these functionalities and this creates a gap between personal
purchasing and business purchasing done by the same person but in a different environment. During the
user consultation sessions21 of the RaboShop some of the users where asking why the RaboShop did not
have more of the features found on Bol.com. This is a clear example of the gap between the online B2C
world and the E‐Procurement system in the B2B world. This gap can decrease E‐Procurement usage
because users could prefer purchasing products in the online B2C world due to the ease of use and
attractive functionalities. To decrease this gap it is therefore important to asses these online B2C
functionalities to improve the B2B E‐Procurement system. This gap is not only important for the
Rabobank but also for other companies where user adoption is important for the success of the E‐
Procurement system.
14 Website: www.nike.com 15 Website: www.dell.com 16 Website: www.bol.com 17 Website: www.ebay.nl 18 Website: www.amazone.com 19 Website: http://www.kieskeurig.nl 20 Website: http://www.tweakers.net/pricewatch 21 RaboShop user sessions: Rabobank Eindhoven “5‐11‐2009”
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1.3 Theoretical context of the study E‐Procurement is defined by De Boer et al., (2002) as using internet technology in the purchasing
process and refers to the specific purchasing steps in Van Weele (1994). The organizational benefits of
using E‐Procurement are recognized by practitioners and well documented in literature (Pushmann et
al., 2005) and empirical support for the relation between the use of E‐Procurement and the purchasing
performance was found by Rai et al. (2006).
In the beginning of E‐Procurement technology, the prime research interest were the technical
feasibilities like data bandwidth and data handling capacity (Neef, 2001 as cited in Reunis, 2007).
Technical feasibilities gradually improved over the year as hardware capabilities improved year by year.
This first generation of E‐Procurement systems thereby soon evolved into a second generation of E‐
Procurement systems where the prime research interest was no longer focused on hardware capacities
but focused on software related capabilities. Research fields of Supply Chain integration (Hughes et al.
(1998); Poirier et al. (2000); Puschmann, 2005) and alignment of E‐Procurement tools and systems with
the corporate strategy (Knudsen, 2003) received thereby significant research interest. Also the impact of
E‐Procurement systems on the supplier (De Boer, 2002) and system interoperability (Angelov, 2007)
became important research fields. With the ever increasing hardware and software performance the
interest gradually moved towards IT user adoption research (Reunis, 2007). This can also be seen as the
third generation of E‐Procurement tools where no longer the limits lay on hardware of software but on
the users. In this third generation of E‐Procurement systems the users are becoming the primary focus
of E‐Procurement research (Reunis, 2007). This study builds upon the importance of the internal users
and lays its core focus on the user rather than on software and hardware.
The success and failure factors of E‐Procurement system have been extensively researched and
documented in literature. Angeles et al. (2007) for example performed extensive literature and
empirical research on these important factors and concluded with three success factors as well as three
failure factors. The three success factors for E‐Procurement systems were supplier and contract
management, end‐user behavior and E‐Procurement business processes, and information and e‐
procurement infrastructure. The failure factors were lack of system integration and standardization
issues, immaturity of e‐procurement‐based market services and end‐user resistance, and maverick
buying and difficulty in integrating e‐commerce with other systems. Three of these six success and
failure factors directly relate to the end user adoption. The success factor is end‐user behavior and the
failure factors are end‐user resistance and maverick buying. The importance of end user behavior is
thereby well recognized by practitioners.
The online B2C market has grown tremendously over the last decade and much research is performed
on methods and measuring instruments for evaluating the effectiveness of commercial web sites from
different perspectives (Huang et al., 2006). These perspectives include web site quality, end‐user
satisfaction, content types used in commercial web sites, usability of web site, service quality, or a
combination of several factors. Little or no research interest was paid on the evaluation of online B2C
functionalities from the consumer’s perspective. Which online functionalities provided by B2C websites
are favored most by the customer and which have a positive influence on the attractiveness of
websites? Previous research performed by Huang et al. (2006) evaluated commercial web sites from the
10
perspective of web features and functions but their assessment framework was based on an industry
wide evaluation with the expertise of several experts in the field instead of the actual users of the
functionalities: the customers.
While the importance of the end user is recognized by many academic practitioners, limited interest was
given to the opportunities on functionalities developed in the online B2C world to increase the user
adoption of these E‐Procurement solutions. This study is focused on reducing this gap in literature.
1.4 Problem definition and research questions Online B2C purchasing gets increasingly popular and the B2C market continuously offers new
functionalities to increase the ease of use for the customer. B2B E‐Procurement users are getting
increasingly acquainted to all these new functionalities in the B2C world during their personal online
shopping which could result in a decreased user satisfaction of the E‐Procurement system. This
popularity increase of the B2C market could also affect the attractiveness of B2B E‐Procurement systems
as users could start buying products outside of these E‐Procurement systems in favor of the online B2C
markets due to the increased ease of use.
Rabobank uses an E‐Procurement system for many years now and in its strategy of “seducing/tempting”
users to increasingly use its E‐Procurement system, Rabobank wants to know how to identify and assess
which successful B2C functionalities to incorporate in its E‐Procurement system
The main research question:
Which online B2C functionalities are important to create further adoption and success of the E‐
Procurement system of the Rabobank?
The following sub research questions are the building blocks to answer the main research question:
1. Which functionalities are currently found in online B2C websites?
2. Which online B2C functionalities are most frequently used by RaboShop users?
3. Which online B2C functionalities are best valued by RaboShop users?
4. Which functionalities are most promising for E‐Procurement systems?
5. How to assess the most promising B2C functionalities which would fit best for the RaboShop?
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1.5 Research methodology This research study will have an exploratory nature which has the objective to gather preliminary
information that will help define problems and suggest hypotheses (Kotler et al. 2006). The goal of this
research is to find relationships between construct variables and to learn which variables are related to
the constructs. This research includes the bodies of knowledge “E‐Procurement” and “B2C E‐Commerce”
and builds on previous academic research for the development of an identification and assessment
framework for online B2C functionalities. E‐Procurement literature is chosen because the RaboShop is
an E‐Procurement system and B2C E‐Commerce literature is chosen because of the presumed
importance of online B2C functionalities
Research model
The research model is given in figure 1.2 and is further elaborated in this part.
Figure 1.2: Research model
The primary goal of this study is twofold: The first goal is the identification of the most important online
B2C functionalities and to assess these on a fit within the RaboShop (“Recommendations”) and the
second goal is to develop a framework based on the research conducted for systematic identification
and assessment on E‐Procurement fit for the future and for other practitioners (“Framework”).
The research model starts with a declaration of the problem statement and the research questions. Next
a literature study on existing academic research is conducted to gain a better understanding of the
important purchasing factors in the online B2C world and to discuss the suitability for online B2C
functionalities as a purchasing decision factor as in the online world. Furthermore a clear definition for
an online B2C functionality as well as a structured identification process should be derived from
academic literature. This structured identification process should be well suited to categorize the
functionalities found in the online B2C world. Furthermore in the literature study academic research on
E‐Procurement solutions is reviewed to gain a better understanding on the importance of user adoption
for E‐Procurement.
In the third part an empirical research framework is developed to empirically identify the most
important online B2C functionalities currently offered to consumers. For this first a customer survey is
developed to identify and evaluated online B2C functionalities by users of the RaboShop to assess which
are valued as being the most important.
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Next based on the results of the survey further analysis to identify the most promising functionalities for
usage within the RaboShop are conducted based on age, consumer online experience and customer
functionality valuation. This should result in a list of the most important functionalities found by
RaboShop users. These functionalities are next assessed on fit within the RaboShop which is primarily
done through E‐Procurement and E‐Commerce experts within the Rabobank. This should result in
recommendations towards the Rabobank. To assist the Rabobank on systematic functionality
identification in the future and to assists other practitioners finally in the fifth part a preliminary
framework is developed based on the empirical research conducted.
1.6 Research objectives This research focuses on the identification and assessment of online B2C functionalities and the
assessment of the most important online B2C functionalities on fit with an E‐Procurement solution.
Instead of looking at individual websites or a single website function, this research focuses on online B2C
users and the online functionalities the customer values and uses. The goal is to identify those
functionalities which are most frequently used and best valued by consumers in the online B2C world
and to assess these on fit within E‐Procurement solutions. An important assumption of this research is
that adding more functionality to an E‐Procurement system will increase the attractiveness of the E‐
Procurement system and thereby increase the user adoption and success of the E‐Procurement system.
There are many other factors which influence the user adoption and success of an E‐Procurement
system but these are not part of this research. This research design has the benefits that it overviews
online functionalities as a whole from the customers perspective.
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1.7 Report Outline The outline of the report is visually represented in figure 1.3. In the first chapter the research approach
was discussed. In the second chapter the bodies of knowledge “E‐Commerce” and “E‐Procurement” are
discussed from an academic perspective and also the RaboShop is analyzed from a practical perspective.
In the third chapter the empirical research is presented which is based on the findings in chapter two. In
the fourth chapter a framework is presented based on the empirical research conducted in chapter
three. In the fifth chapter the conclusions, recommendations and limitations are discussed.
Figure 1.3: Report outline
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2. Theoretical Background This chapter consists of three parts. In the first part the theoretical academic background on B2C E‐
Commerce is discussed. This part begins with a general introduction on E‐commerce and the importance
of the field. Next a deeper look into important purchasing decision factors identified in academic
literature is presented and next a deeper look into the purchasing decision factor of online B2C
functionalities is given. Finally several purchasing models are discussed which are needed in the
identification framework to identify online B2C functionalities. In the second part of this chapter the
theoretical academic background on B2B E‐Procurement is discussed. This part begins with a general
introduction on E‐Procurement solutions and their importance. Next a deeper look into user adoption as
an important success factor for E‐Procurement systems is discussed. In the Third part of this chapter the
RaboShop is assessed and evaluated. All three parts of this chapter serve as a background for the fourth
chapter.
2.1 B2C E‐Commerce In this part of the study the importance of online B2C customer web shopping is discussed. The online
markets are growing fast and this increases the online competition (Alzola et al., 2007; May So, 2005).
Where in the past the customer could purchase products in only a few offline shops because of limited
access to information, traveling costs and other reasons, nowadays the customer can surf on the
internet for information and purchase products from around the world. No longer limited by distance or
information, the customer can purchase where he wants and this force’s online companies to constantly
innovate in order to attract and retain the customer (Cheng et al., 2009).
Internet has become an alternative purchasing channel for increasingly more consumers (Kuo et al.,
2004). Compared to traditional offline shopping, internet shopping enlarges the information
environment of shopping by providing additional product information, such as products specifications
and reviews, as well as various alternatives (Huang, 2006; Gray, 2005; Seock et al., 2006). The internet’s
has an interactive nature which increases the shopping efficiency for the customer (May So et al., 2005;
Seock et al., 2006). The internet also offers enriched product and services information by reducing
information‐search costs and enabling direct multi‐attribute comparisons (Seock et al., 2006).
The online consumer furthermore differs from offline consumer due to their increased access to market
knowledge and easier access to product and service alternatives (Shankara et al., 2003). Wang et al.,
(2001) notices that consumer purchasing in the online world often have different evaluation criteria,
perceptions and decision‐making processes compared to their purchases in the offline world. This is
important knowledge because it indicates that traditional purchasing models need to be redesigned to
fit the online B2C purchasing process. The internet has widened consumer’s channel choices for
shopping (Seock et al., 2006). A consumer may for example search on the internet to find a product he
wants and finally purchase the product offline or vice versa. The Internet has thereby become an
important commercial channel for many companies to attract consumers to their products and services
(Kuo et al., 2004).
The research field on customer web shopping has received significant interest by academic researchers
(Constantinides, 2004; Alzola et al., 2005; Cheng et al., 2009). Most researchers have recognized the
15
importance of the internet as a new purchasing channel for consumers and wondered how to increase
the success of B2C E‐Commerce. The understanding of the motivations and factors influencing the
purchasing decision of the consumer are important because this can help companies to increase the
effectiveness of their online activities (Constantinides, 2004). Many research papers therefore relate to
the motivations and factors influencing the online customer purchasing decision.
2.2 Factors influencing the B2C purchasing decision In this section of the study previous research on the online B2C purchasing decision factors are
discussed. These factors are important because they can increase the effectiveness of online activities of
companies (Constantinides, 2004). Kuo et al., (2004) for example found that risks and uncertainties
inherited in the process are important factors in the purchasing decision. When a consumer for example
considers buying a product from the other side of the world there are several risks and uncertainties like
the risk of not delivery or the risk of a bad product or the risk of financial fraud (Garbarino et al., 2004).
Most of these risks are much higher for online purchasing compared to offline purchasing. Kuo et al.,
(2004) furthermore found that the interface design of a website is an important factor for e‐shopping.
According to Digitimes (2001, as cited in Kuo et al., 2004), consumers are more likely to abandon E‐
Shopping sites before completing payment partly due to the complicated purchasing process which
provided too much information on the website. Providing information in the right interface is therefore
an important factor in the purchasing decision of the customer.
Other factors found by Rotandaro (2002) are user satisfaction, needs and expectations. User satisfaction
deals with the experience of the customer with the company. If a customer for example has purchased
products before and is satisfied with the results he will be more likely to purchase again at the same
store. The purchasing intention factor user needs is more related to the product. When a consumer for
example really wants to have a certain product which he can only purchase online he will be more likely
to purchase the product online. The same goes for expectations. When a consumer has high
expectations of a product or company he is also more likely to purchase the product online.
Many more factors are found to influence the purchasing decision. Zhang (2008) for example found the
type of transaction to be an important decision factor for online or offline purchasing. According to
Zhang (2008) traditional offline purchasing channels were associated with the products with high‐
product complexity and online products were associated with simple and standard products. The
product complexity is therefore also an important influencing factor in the purchasing decision.
Consumers might be more willing to purchase a book or a traveling ticket online than a complex product
like a mobile phone or a laptop. Complex products require more information searching and comparing
compared to the low complex products (Kuo et al., 2004). Search and compare functionalities offered by
websites can also affect the purchasing decision. Seock et al., (2006) for example found a relationship
between consumer’s intention to search for information on a website and consumer’s intention to
purchase products on that website. May So et al., (2005) also found a direct relation between web
search behavior and web shopping intentions.
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The link between the intention to search for information and the intention to purchasing indicates the
importance of developing an attractive website where consumers are willing to browse and search for
products. Offering additional information and extra features to customer and thereby influencing their
intention to search on your website instead of other websites can have a positive effect on the intention
to purchase of the customer. The link between intention to search and intention to purchasing is
important for this research because it links with the idea that adding additional functionalities to a
website and thereby making the website more attractive for the customer will increase the success of a
website.
In short, the following factors were found in previous research to be important in the purchasing
decision process of the online customer: risks and uncertainties, interface design, user satisfaction,
needs and expectations, type of transaction, product complexity, consumers’ attitudes towards the
store and search and compare features (Kuo et al., 2004; Rotandaro, 2002; Zhang, 2008; Seock et al.,
2006; May So et al., 2005). Except for the last factor all the other factors are related to either a company
or product/service or towards a single website. This makes these factors very subjective when looking
from a general customer wide perspective. The question “what makes a websites easy and attractive to
the customer” therefore cannot be easily answered by looking at these factors. To remove this
subjectivity and to be able to answer the question from a more general perspective, the researcher has
chosen to zooms out by looking at online B2C functionalities from a general perspective. This factor is
not related to any product, service or company.
2.3 Online B2C website functionalities In this section of the research project, online B2C functionalities are discussed. Various assessment
methods to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of commercial B2C web sites have been proposed
by various researchers from different perspectives (Webb et al., 2004; Welling et al., 2006; Alzola et al.,
2007; Constantinides, 2004; May So et al., 2005; Kuo et al., 2004). Proposed assessment methods are for
example web site quality (Webb et al., 2004; Alzola et al., 2007), site performance (Welling et al., 2006),
end user satisfaction (Hung and McQueen, 2004), web site interface (Kuo et al., 2004) or a combination
of several factors (May So et al., 2005). However, no previous research was found on measuring online
B2C functionalities from a customer’s perspective and their effectiveness on commercial websites. From
the customer’s point of view, which functionalities are most valued and used and thereby a nearly
necessary feature to include in a website?
Constantinides (2004) performed a review on 48 academic papers on customer behavior in the online
environments and identified three main building blocks of customer web experience. These building
blocks were functionality factors, psychological factors and content factors. The identification of
functionality factors supports the idea that online B2C functionalities are an important factor for the
attractiveness and success of a website. Huang et al., (2006) examined the web technological features
and functions offered by companies in different industry sectors. Huang et al., (2006) evaluated 252
commercial websites on features and functions on a seven point Likert scale. Based on the industry the
website operated in conclusions on importance of these functionalities was drawn. Unfortunately no
measurement or verification on importance of these features and functions from the customer
17
perspective was made. Concluding the importance of these features and functions from an online
industry perspective might fail to capture the true value of the features and functions for the customer.
In this master thesis project the primary focus lays on online B2C website functionalities from a
customer’s perspective. This approach is chosen due to its more objective nature as mentioned before
and due to the ability to capture the consumer’s value of the functionality as a whole instead of just
from one or two websites. This approach removes implementation aspects like the quality of
implementation and design interface.
There are several definitions of online functionalities. Constantinides (2004) for example defined
functionality factors as: “Factors enhancing the online experience by presenting the virtual client with a
good functioning, easy to explore, fast, interactive Web site. Functionality includes “Usability” and
“Interactivity” elements”. Cenfetelli (2005) defined functionalities as “customer service features and
tools made possible by IT in the e‐Business environment as perceived by a website’s customers”. The
Dutch government website22 defined functionalities as “Technical options offered by a site, such as a
search function or an option to change the text size”. Important elements in these definitions are the
enhanced experience for the customer and the fact that they are software based. Based on these three
definitions this study uses the following definition to identify online B2C functionalities:
Online B2C website functionalities are software related technical service features which enhance the
online experience of the consumer.
The main goal of this master thesis research project is identifying the most important online B2C
functionalities from the consumer’s perspective. Therefore the consumer plays an important role in the
definition. A good example of an online B2C website functionality is customization of the information
provided. This functionality offers a customer of a website the ability to select topics of interest. When
the customer returns to the website only these topics are displayed. This enhances the online
experience for the customer because no longer all the articles which are not of interest for the customer
are displayed which saves the customer time. In addition to the main goal this master thesis aims to
develop an assessment framework to allow for systematic identification, classification and assessment
on E‐Procurement B2B fit of the available online B2C functionalities. As mentioned in the previous part,
consumers purchasing in the online world differ from consumer purchasing in the offline world (Wang et
al., (2001). Therefore, to classify the available functionalities first a better understanding into in the
purchasing process of the online consumer is needed. With this knowledge the online B2C
functionalities can be classified accordingly. Therefore in the next part several purchasing models are
discussed.
22 Website: www.overheid.nl/stijlgids.functionaliteiten
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2.4 B2C Purchasing models When consumers purchase a product or service they follow a series of complex interaction and decision
making process steps (Kuo et al., 2004). When a consumer for example wants to buy a new mobile
phone he will search for information on mobile phones, read specifications of several different types of
products, choose a specific type of phone and searches for shops that can deliver the phone to him.
Next he might pay for the phone with his credit card and have the phone delivered to him. Afterwards
the consumer might require some after sale service because the phone does not function correctly. Each
step of the purchasing process has its own characteristics and the importance of each step depends on
many factors like the type of product or service, the number of products, the product complexity, and
much more (Subramaniam et al., 2004). Many purchasing models have been developed on these
interaction and decision steps. Some of these models are developed for the more traditional offline
purchasing while others are specifically developed for online purchasing. Some examples of models
based on more traditional offline purchasing are the models of O’keefe et al., (1998) and Guttman et al.,
(1998). Using a traditional consumer behavior model to explain online purchasing might not be fully
right since the online customer differs from the offline customer as mentioned before. The online
customer for example has a larger access to information and more market knowledge compared to the
offline customer. The purchasing steps therefore might also be different. This has been recognized by
Kuo et al., (2003) and they proposed a new ten step model specially designed to cover the E‐commerce
purchasing steps. Kuo et al., (2003) found that the complexity of the behavior model is depending on the
characteristics and complexity of the products. During the purchasing process of complex products,
consumers are likely to repeat the steps of searching, examining, evaluating and comparing products
using multiple search engine sites to evaluate and compare products until they find the required
product (Kuo et al., 2003). A good example is provided when consumers purchase a new computer or a
cell phone. For these products functionalities provided on the search and evaluate steps are more
important compared to the purchase of a book or a DVD (Kuo et al., 2003). This indicated that not all the
functionalities are equally important and that their importance is dependent on the characteristics of
the product. This is an important finding because it indicates a need to classify the functionalities on B2C
websites according to purchasing steps in a purchasing model. The benefit of model of Kuo et al., (2003)
is that it encompasses the online purchasing behavior while retaining the different steps needed for
different product purchasing. The downside of this model is that it is large and difficult to classify B2C
functionalities to one specific step. There is much overlap between the different steps when dealing
with B2C functionalities. A search and compare functionality for example can be used to search
products, examine the products and also evaluate the products. For this reason the purchasing model
preference of this master thesis goes to another online purchasing model for the classification of online
B2C functionalities. This purchasing model is developed by Zhang (2008) which is also developed to be
used for online purchasing but is less extensive compared to the model of Kuo et al., (2003). The
purchasing transaction process model of Zhang (2008) consists of four categories as can be seen in
figure 2.1.
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Figure 2.1: Zhang (2008), purchasing transaction model
The first step in the model is the identification of a need and the search to fill that need. The next step is
to compare several products or services and select one which fulfills the need of the customer. The third
step is to order the product, make the payment and receive the products or services. The final step is to
receive after sale support and services. Classification of online B2C functionalities is expected to be
easier due to the lower level of overlap between the purchasing steps. For this reason and because the
model is suited for online purchasing this model of Zhang (2008) is selected for the basis of the online
B2C purchasing identification framework of this master thesis project.
2.5 B2C E‐Commerce conclusion In this part of the study the importance of online purchasing as an important consumer shopping
channel is highlighted. Furthermore the important factors influencing the purchasing decision of the
online customer are discussed. There are many factors which influence this purchasing decision but
most are directly related to products, services, website or a company. This makes these factors very
subjective and not suitable for general recommendations towards B2B E‐Procurement systems. Online
B2C functionalities from a general perspective on the other hand are more objective since they don’t
refer to any company, product/ service or website but refer from the customer’s perspective as a whole.
To identify and classify these online B2C functionalities a purchasing model is needed in the assessment
framework. For this several models were reviewed and, based on suitability in the online purchasing
process and classification possibilities, the best suited model was selected to be used in the online B2C
assessment framework of the master thesis project. The selected model is the model of Zhang (2008)
which consists of 4 steps: Search and identify, compare and select, execution and after‐sale support and
services. This model will form the basis of the online B2C functionality identification framework.
In the next part of this chapter a deeper look into E‐Procurement systems is given. This is important
because those functionalities identified as best valued and most used by the consumer need to be
translated into E‐Procurement functionality.
1. Identify and Search2. Compare and
Select3. Execution
4. After‐sale support and services
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2.6 B2B E‐Procurement systems This part of the chapter will discuss the academic background in the area of Electronic Procurement (E‐
Procurement). Main topics in this part are the importance of E‐Procurement systems in today’s business
world and the importance of end user adoption for the success of E‐Procurement systems.
E‐Procurement systems are widely used in today’s business to business world. In the first years of E‐
Procurement systems many believed they would radically change the business E‐Commerce world
(Puschmann et al., 2005; Harink , 2003). Many companies started developing or buying E‐Procurement
systems but the results were contradictory. Many companies faced setbacks because implementation of
the systems was not as easy as expected (Harink, 2003) and therefore many started to wonder if E‐
Procurement systems were even worth the investments. Companies soon realized that E‐Procurement
systems were more than a piece of software and that implementation required business changes, supply
chain redesigns, user training and much more. Careful thoughts on all the changes needed to make the
E‐Procurement systems a success was needed (Harink, 2003). The goal of this master thesis project is to
improve E‐Procurement systems by including the most important online B2C functionalities. This
requires changes in the existing E‐Procurement system and this should only be done by first getting a
better understanding of what E‐Procurement systems are. Therefore in this part of the chapter E‐
Procurement systems are further examined.
First of all, there is no universal definition for E‐Procurement systems and many researchers defined
their own definition. Bakos (1997) for example, defined an E‐Procurement system as an open business
to business (B2B) system that enables the organization to reach and transact with suppliers and
customers in virtual markets. Another definition is given by De Boer et al., (2002), which defined E‐
Procurement as using internet technology in the purchasing process and refers for the specific steps in
Van Weele (1994). The purchasing steps of Van Weele (1994) are: define specification, select supplier,
contract agreement, ordering, expediting and evaluation. The definition of De Boer et al., (2002) is
smaller because only internet communication is included where in the definition of Bakos (1997) also
faxing and telephone are part of the definition (Harink, 2003). Another important difference is the
reference to the purchasing steps of Van Weele (1994). Other definitions are given by Dai et al., (2001)
and Turban et al., (2006). According to Dai et al., (2001) a typical e‐procurement system affects the
whole requisition process and Turban et al., (2006) found that they apply for purchasing goods and
services.
In this master thesis the definition of De Boer et al., (2002) on E‐Procurement systems is followed
because this definition only includes the internet. This is important because in the previous part only
B2C functionalities in the online world were included. This definition recognizes the importance of the
link with the purchasing process steps and links well with the previous part were consumer purchasing
steps were selected to form the backbone of the online B2C functionality assessment framework.
Conclusion: E‐Procurement is defined as using internet technology in the purchasing process.
First a deeper look into the most common E‐Procurement systems available is needed.
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There are many different types of E‐Procurement systems, like e‐Markets, e‐MRO, e‐sourcing, e‐
tendering, e‐ordering and e‐exchange (De Boer et al., 2002). Each type is build for a special purpose and
has its own functionality and characteristics. The most common are given below, including their
explanation:
e‐Informing: the process of gathering and distributing purchasing information both from and to
internal and external parties using internet technology (De Boer et al., 2002)
e‐Sourcing: the process of identifying new suppliers for a specific category of purchasing
requirements using internet technology (De Boer et al., 2002)
e‐Tendering: the process of sending requests for information and prices to suppliers and
receiving the responses using internet technology (De Boer et al., 2002)
e‐Reverse auctioning: Internet based reverse auction technology which focuses on the price of
the goods and services auctioned (Teich et al., 1999)
e‐MRO and Web based ERP: the processes of creating and approving purchasing requisitions,
placing purchase orders and receiving the goods or services ordered via a software system
based on internet technology; e‐MRO deals with indirect items (MRO), web‐based ERP deals
with product‐related items (De Boer et al., 2002)
e‐Ordering: the use of Internet to facilitate operational purchasing processes, including the
ordering (requisitioning), order approval, order receipt and payment process (Harink, 2003)
e‐Markets: are meeting venues for component suppliers and purchasers, who use exchange
mechanisms to electronically support the procurement process (Block, 2008)
e‐Intelligence: Management Information System with spend analysis tools (Harink, 2003)
e‐Contract management: the use of information technology for improving the efficiency and
effectiveness of contracting processes of companies. (Angelov, 2008)
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2.7 B2B E‐Procurement importance In this part of the academic background the importance of E‐Procurement systems is discussed. The
organizational benefits of E‐Procurement systems are recognized by practitioners and well documented
in literature (Reunis, 2007; Puschmann et al., 2005). With these benefits the importance of E‐
Procurement systems are discussed.
From the organizational perspective, E‐Procurement streamlines tasks in an organization’s buying
process and thereby reducing cost and the time cycle required to process a purchase order (Reunis et
al., 2007). Other benefits on a process level identified by Panayiotou et al., (2004) are simpler ordering,
reduced paperwork, decreased redundancy and less bureaucracy, standardization of processes and
documentation, online reporting, clearer and more transparent processes, minimization of errors and
easier access to information.
E‐Procurement systems also allow companies to decentralize operational procurement processes and
centralized strategic procurement processes (Puschmann et al., 2005). This is a benefit because it allows
for faster and more efficient operational procurement processes by reducing or removing a purchasing
department placing purchasing deeper into the organization. Furthermore E‐Procurement systems like
e‐Markets allow purchasers to select goods from a wider range of suppliers (Kheng et al., 2002). Due to
the wider range of supplier, the competition amongst suppliers will rise which will force prices to go
down and thereby bring cost savings to the organization (Kheng et al., 2002). E‐Markets also allow for
easier comparison of supplier products and easier expenditure monitoring.
Other important potential buyer benefits found by (Panayiotou et al., 2004) are improved control of
vendor relationships, accurate fulfillment of the processes, improved effectiveness of the purchasing
processes, higher service levels, reduced prices from the key suppliers, reduced inventory carrying cost,
reduction of the order cycle, ensured compliance with procurement laws and regulations and easier
access to information.
Cost reduction is one of the most important goals of E‐Procurement systems in the purchasing process
(Reunis, 2007). E‐Procurement can reduce different categories of transaction costs and communication
costs (De Boer et al., 2002). According to consultants and suppliers of E‐Procurement systems (Van
Weele et al., 2003); Van Weele 2005; p.p.176), these reductions can be divided into three main
categories: Leveraged buying, maverick buying and transaction costs. Cost reduction on leveraged
buying is about organizing the purchasing function within the organization or between different
organizations by bundling collaborative purchasing needs (Van Weele et al., 2003). For this first category
the investment costs on IT are relatively low and the cost savings are relatively high. This is thereby the
easiest and most attractive cost reduction category. The second category on reduction of maverick
buying, which are purchases done not using available company contracts (De Boer et al., 2002), requires
higher investments on IT while the cost reduction is lower compared to the first category. The last
category on cost reduction on transactions requires even higher investments on IT while the costs
reductions are even lower. There is an optimum in this balance which is given by Van Weele et al.,
(2003) and is shown in figure 2.2.
23
Figure 2.2: Cost reduction vs. investments in E‐Procurement, Van Weele (2003)
As the investments on IT decrease, the reduction on maverick buying becomes increasingly attractive
according to the figure. The laws of Moore23, which state that the number of transistors on a
microprocessor doubles every two years, are still valid today and thereby IT‐hardware costs are
decreasing in price. Furthermore the standardization of software packages are also reducing the
investments costs, making it increasingly attractive to invest on IT to reduce the maverick buying. This is
important knowledge for the master thesis project because implementing new B2C functionalities in the
existing E‐Procurement system will most probably requires investments on IT. As these costs of IT
investments decrease, it will become increasingly beneficial to invest in online B2C functionalities and
thereby reduce maverick buying.
As shown above there are many potential benefits to be gained, which makes the importance of E‐
Procurement system very high. Even though there are many potential benefits identified by researchers,
most researchers also mentioned that a successful implementation of E‐Procurement systems is of key
importance to gain these benefits. The end user plays an important role in the success of an E‐
Procurement system and there in the next part a deeper look into the important implementation factors
for E‐Procurement is given and especially to the importance of end user adoption as a success factor
23 Website: www.intel.com
24
2.8 B2B E‐Procurement user adoption as a success factors In this part the success and failure factors related to the implementation of E‐Procurement systems are
discussed as well as the importance of user adoption. The concept of success factors is very broad and
has many different names and forms in academic literature, e.g., drivers for success, failure factors,
challenge to implementation, critical success factors (Puschmann et al., 2005; Angeles et al., 2007). Even
though different names are given, they all relate to factors which either influence the chance of a
successful or a failing in implementation.
No uniform standard to measure the success of an E‐Procurement system was found in literature. The
success depends for a large part on the aims a company strives for when implementing an E‐
Procurement system. According to an empirical survey carried out in the United States of America, the
two most important measures for the success of procurement processes are time and cost (Gebauer et
al., 1998). Time relates to the time savings gained by improved procurement processes and cost relates
to the reduction in costs gained (Panayiotou et al., 2004). Both measurements factors are difficult to use
because no definition on measurement standards is given and because subjectivity in the measurement
is hard to eliminate. Which costs are taken into account and how do these costs affect other costs within
the organization. An example of this subjectivity could be a reduction in supply costs which could lead to
higher risks within the organization and could affect the success of the overall organization. For this
reason a measurement in success of E‐Procurement systems remains difficult. In this study a different
approach to define success of E‐Procurement systems is taken by the researcher because the end user
plays a central role. The measurement therefore needs to take the end user behavior into account.
The researcher has therefore defined the E‐Procurement success measure as the percentage of the
products purchased through the E‐Procurement system based on the total purchased products. The
higher this percentage is the greater the success of the E‐Procurement system.
Angeles et al. (2007) performed a literature review and developed an initial list of 13 important
challenges as well as an initial list of 12 success factors for the implementation of E‐Procurement
systems. Next these factors were sent for evaluation to procurement managers and professionals. These
procurement managers and professionals were asked to evaluate these factors based on a seven point
Likert scale. Based on the successfully returned questionnaires (185) a principal component analysis was
performed. Based on this analysis Angeles et al. (2007) concluded with three success factors as well as
three failure factors for the implementation of E‐Procurement systems. The three success factors for E‐
Procurement systems were supplier and contract management, end‐user behavior and e‐procurement
business processes, and information and e‐procurement infrastructure. The failure factors were lack of
system integration and standardization issues, immaturity of e‐procurement‐based market services and
end‐user resistance, and maverick buying and difficulty in integrating e‐commerce with other systems.
Three out of the six success and failure factors directly relate to end user adoption. The success factor is
end‐user behavior and the failure factors are end‐user resistance and maverick buying. This indicates
the importance of user adoption for E‐Procurement systems. User adoption is identified directly as well
as indirectly to be an important factor in the success of E‐Procurement systems by many other
researchers as well. Panayiotou et al., (2004) for example identified the importance of adequate training
25
of the employees in order to enable them to take advantage of the E‐Procurement systems as a critical
success factor. Reunis (2007) for example emphasizes that the key towards realizing the potential value
of E‐Procurement systems lays in a smooth and speedy adoption by the user population.
The importance of user adoption has only just been recognized and thereby the ‘human’ issues of
realizing the E‐Procurement systems are only just being explored (Zahay et al., 2004; Brandon‐Jones et
al., 2005 as cited in Reunis, 2007). Bartolini et al., (2006 as cited in Reunis, 2007) emphasizes that
“change management issues related to E‐Procurement are far from insignificant and remain as a major if
not the major hurdle for a broad and successful deployment”. While the importance of user adoption is
great, gaining user adoption of a new system is not easy because in general people are not keen to alter
their current habits and are generally reluctant to change, especially where direct personal benefits are
not clear or uncertain (Reunis, 2007).
This study build further upon the importance of user adoption for E‐Procurement systems. In the next
part a deeper look into the E‐Procurement system of the Rabobank is given on the offered
functionalities for the Rabobank and the Importance of the end user for the success of the RaboShop.
26
2.9 The E‐Procurement system of the Rabobank: “The RaboShop” The RaboShop is the E‐Procurement system of the Rabobank and can be seen as a virtual market place.
In this virtual market place internal and external suppliers can offer products to the members of the
Rabobank Group. The Homepage of the RaboShop is given in figure 2.3.
Figure 2.3: Example of the RaboShop
The first version of the RaboShop was developed back in 1995 and had the objective to reduce the
administrative costs of order processing and to increase leveraged buying with contracted suppliers24.
This first version of the RaboShop was custom built and was gradually improved over the years by added
functionalities like real‐time supplier integration, authorization workflows and reverse invoicing25. To
keep up with new technological developments as well as the rapid increase of all kinds of new
functionalities in B2C Web Shops, major investments had to be done to keep the RaboShop up to date.
Combined with the fact that it took RCI more and more effort to maintain and manage all these changes
and acting more as a software developer then a procurement department the decision was made to
24 Rabobank Document: “Vijftien jaar e‐procurement bij Rabobank” 25 Rabobank Document: “Vijftien jaar e‐procurement bij Rabobank”
27
leave the path of developing their own E‐Procurement software. This encouraged Rabobank to develop
a new version of the RaboShop based on an industry standard ERP system called SAP. Furthermore SAP
was also selected because it was already widely used within Rabobank to adjacent areas as Finance and
Human resource management which from an IT architect point of view was therefore in favorite. The
development of this new version took over 2 years and in 2009 this new version was launched and
replaced the previous RaboShop. An example of this new version of the RaboShop is given in figure 2.3.
This new RaboShop offered many benefits like modern purchasing techniques with shopping cart
functionality, financial integration, digital supplier integration, reporting facilities and authorization
facilities26.
Products & services
While the RaboShop was completely redesigned it remained a central market place where contracted
suppliers can offer their products and services through product owners within the Rabobank. The
products and services offered in the RaboShop come from a wide range and can be divided over 5
commodity groups which are: primary process supplies, IT products and telecommunication, human
resource management, marketing and communication materials, and general and technical support
services27.
RaboShop for the strategic, tactical and operational purchasing process
The overall goal of the RaboShop is to close the loop for procurement28. This implies improved control
by establishing the relationship between contracts, purchase orders, invoices and payments, prevention
of maverick buying, enlargement of contracting volumes, the improvement of management information
and to reduce total costs of ownership by phasing out previous applications29. In general this is achieved
through supporting the entire purchasing process from the beginning till the end on a strategic, tactical
and operational level.
On a strategic level the RaboShop is fully integrated with the financial administrator and therefore
supports the services Purchasing Intelligence and management information. Purchasing Intelligence is
used to develop spend analysis as well as to answer ad‐hoc issues for purchasers, customers of
Rabobank Netherlands and the internal department Information Management Control. Management
information is used to provide the management team of Rabobank Concern Inkoop with valuable
reports. These reports provide insight into necessity costs and expenses. By offering these services the
RaboShop offers transparency in the purchasing process on a strategic level30. An overview of the
strategic procurement process of the RaboShop is given in figure 2.4.
26 Rabobank Document (Presentation): “Bericht Lokale banken” 27 Rabobank Document: “Business plan 2006‐2008” 28 Rabobank Document: “Jaarplan 2008” 29 Rabobank Document: “Sirius supplier interaction” 30 Rabobank Document (Presentation): “RaboShop”
28
Figure 2.4: Strategic procurement RaboShop
On a tactical level the RaboShop is developed to support operational contract management en
catalogue content management. The contract management ensures contract compliance with suppliers
and reduces the administrative burden. The catalogue content management ensures suppliers with
administrative support tools to manage their catalogue products. The RaboShop supports the services
contract registration & reminding for purchasers and contract owners and administrators, catalogue
content management on an integral level to secure contract agreements, management information and
customer and supplier onboarding where agreements are closed like Service level Agreements and
communication paths31. An overview of the tactical procurement process of the RaboShop is given in
figure 2.5.
Figure 2.5: Tactical procurement RaboShop
On an operational level the RaboShop supports four purchasing scenarios. The first scenario is the
standard catalogue orders. This scenario deals with standard, regular products which are fixed and
predefined into the RaboShop. The second scenario is the free order buying. This scenario deals with
products or services which cannot be placed into a catalogue, typically represent a large value and are
typically ordered by a select group of users. An example of such a product is a complex computer server.
The third scenario is the stock procurement. The products or services in this scenario owned by the
Rabobank and are usually products which need to be in stock or are delivered in bulk. An example of
such a product is the “Rabo Reader” which is used by customers of internet Rabobank banking. This
product is very important for the Rabobank and is therefore placed into the stock of the Rabobank
instead of a supplier. The fourth and final scenario supported by the RaboShop is the contract labor. This
31 Rabobank Document (Presentation): “RaboShop”
29
scenario deals with hiring of external employees to support the services of the Rabobank. An overview
of the operational procurement process of the RaboShop is given in figure 2.6.
Figure 2.6: Operational procurement RaboShop
Users of the RaboShop
The RaboShop has many users which all have one or more user roles. The most important roles are
requisitioner, manager, contract manager, product owner, purchaser, director, supplier, product
specialist, administration and buyers32. Each role has its own distinctive characteristics and rights in the
system. Suppliers for example can offer products and alter information about products but cannot buy
products, while buyers can buy products but cannot offer or alter products.
The buyers can be further divided into the business user from Rabobank Netherlands and Rabobank
International (Dutch offices only), business users from the local banks and business users in some of the
affiliated institutes in the Rabobank Group like the Robeco Group, Obvion and ACCBank33. Each
individual business unit can determine who is allowed to purchase products and to support this there
are three purchasing models available within the Rabobank:
1. The central model where a specialized department or officer fulfills the purchasing needs
2. The secretary model where each department has a limited number of employees responsible for
the purchasing needs
3. The decentralized model where the purchasing function is deeply embedded into the
organization and many employees are allowed to purchasing products.
In total there are approximately 2.500 employees and managers allowed to buy goods and services
within Rabobank Netherlands and Rabobank International. Local banks have approximately 12.500 of
32 Rabobank Document: “Sirius initiation‐business analysis v07” 33 Rabobank Document: “Sirius initiation‐business analysis v07”
30
these users and affiliated institutes approximately 20034. Together approximately 15.000 employees and
managers within the Rabobank Group are allowed to buy products and services through the RaboShop.
2.10 Analysis and evaluation of the RaboShop Rabobank Concern Inkoop (RCI) supports the purchasing function within the entire Rabobank Group.
Their mission is to organize the purchasing function within the Rabobank Group35. Collaboration
between the purchasing functions and the entities within the Rabobank group by which synergy benefits
and purchasing benefits can be gained it thereby of key importance36. To support their mission RCI has
developed the RaboShop but the members within the Rabobank Group are not obliged to purchase their
products through the system. Instead of obligating the usage a strategy of seducing and tempting users
is followed37. User adoption is therefore of key importance for the success of the RaboShop. Another
reason why user adoption is of key importance is that purchasing is getting deeper into the organization.
As mentioned previously Rabobank offers three different purchasing models of which the last one
(“decentralized model”) allows many employees within the organization to purchase products. Within
the Rabobank approximately 15.000 employees and managers are allowed to purchase products and
services which is roughly one third of the employees. If the users don’t accept the system they could
start purchasing products outside of the E‐Procurement system which in turn will have an effect on the
synergy benefits and purchasing benefits.
The importance of user adoption has been recognized by the Rabobank and already during the
development phase the end users where involved into the process. Furthermore much attention was
paid on end‐user training and user feedback.
Already during the development phase request on additional functionalities were received from the
developers as well as from the end users. These requests for changes were saved38 for future
improvement possibilities of the system. The recognition for functionalities to increase the user
adoption was high but due to development as well as resource limitations choices had to be made on
the most important functionalities to be added.
In the last quarter of 2009 user feedback session on the system were held in several locations within the
Netherlands. The end users than had several months to get acquainted with the new system and during
these sessions the users could provide Rabobank Concern Inkoop with feedback on the system. During
these sessions some of the participants wondered why the RaboShop did not have more of the
functionalities found in web shops like Bol.com39. This was a clear indication that there were
opportunities to improve the RaboShop by looking into functionalities offered in the online B2C world.
Some of these opportunities might have already been noted into the internal list and some might not.
34 Rabobank Document: “Gebruikersoverleg RaboShop LB01” 35 Rabobank Document: “Business plan 2006‐2008” 36 Rabobank Document: “Business plan RCI 2006‐2008” 37 Rabobank E‐Procurement Expert interview: “Joost Paalvast” 38 Rabobank Document: “Wishlist_Releases.xls” 39 Website: www.Bol.com
31
2.11 B2B E‐Procurement conclusion In this chapter the importance of B2B E‐Procurement systems as well as the importance of end user
adoption is emphasized. User adoption is recognized in academic literature as well as practitioners
within the Rabobank to be important for the success of E‐Procurement systems especially for the
RaboShop due to their strategy of seducing and tempting users to use the system and to their low
embedding of the RaboShop into the organization. Monitoring the online B2C market on functionalities
important for online consumers can assist the Rabobank to identify new functionalities to increase the
attractiveness of the RaboShop.
32
3. Empirical research
3.1 Introduction In this part of the report the empirical research is discussed which will result in answers to sub research
question one, two, three and four. The empirical research has the objective to empirically identify the
most important functionalities in the online B2C world from a customer’s perspective. For this a survey
is developed which is presented to RaboShop users as well as non‐RaboShop users. The empirical
research furthermore has the objective to assess the most promising functionalities on B2B E‐
Procurement fit. This chapter elaborates on the design of the survey, discusses the results of the survey
and discusses the top 10 most promising B2C functionalities on for usage within the RaboShop. The
empirical research overview is given in figure 3.1:
Figure 3.1: Empirical Research overview
3.2 Survey design For the development of the survey preliminary investigation on available functionalities in the B2C world
is conducted. This preliminary investigation focused on B2C websites which are frequently used by
Dutch consumers. This demarcation of the research is chosen by the researcher because most of the
Rabobank employees are working in the Netherlands. The sample of B2C websites selected for analysis
on functionalities was selected from the “website of the year 2009 election”40 by online marketing
research bureau Emerce41 en MetrixLab42. They identified over 300 popular websites often used by the
Dutch consumers. The popular websites were divided over 21 categories and were chosen by experts in
the E‐Commerce field. The list of websites also contained websites which are government to consumer
related instead of business to consumer related. These websites were not taken into account because
government websites are built for a different purpose compare to B2C websites. This resulted in a list of
277 B2C websites. A full list of websites categories can be found in appendix I.
The functionality identification on websites is done by using the definition of an online B2C functionality
given in the previous literature chapter and by using the experience of the researcher. The researcher
has much experience on online B2C purchasing because the researcher has purchased over 100
products online during the last 5 years. Each website is fully examined on functionalities provided and
40 Website: www.websitevanhetjaar.nl 41 Website: www.emerce.nl 42 Website: www.metrixlab.com
Survey Design
B2C Website
Analysis
Functionality
generalization &
Categorization
Functionality
assessment
B2B
E‐Procurement fit
Survey
results
analysis
33
categorized on the purchasing steps of Zhang (2008) as discussed in the previous literature chapter.
Those functionalities which related directly to one of the purchasing steps of Zhang (2008) are
categorized in that specific purchasing step and those functionalities did not were categorized as general
functionalities. The general functionalities are viewed in this report as functionalities which increase the
attractiveness of a website and the functionalities in the individual purchasing steps are seen as
functionalities which increase the success of a website. This distinction is not further examined in this
study but could provide important knowledge in the process of identifying the most important B2C
functionalities. Further examination on these differences is recommended.
As an example of the identification process the website of Bol.com is presented in figure 3.1 and
elaborated below.
Table 3.1: Functionality identification & Categorization of ww.Bol.com
In the examination of Bol.com “a personal recommendation” is identified as an online B2C functionality.
This service is identified as an online B2C functionality because it helps the consumers in the recognition
of a purchase need. The personal recommendation is calculated based on previous purchasing history of
the consumer and on purchasing data of other customers. By matching the purchasing done by other
consumers which purchased identical products, Bol.com is able to provide the customer a specific
recommendation. This technical software related functionality thereby enhances the experience of the
consumer by removing the search time for a specific need.
This identification of online B2C functionalities is done on each website individually by using the
information available on the website and by using previous purchase experience of the researcher. This
previous purchase experience of the researcher is important because some functionalities are only
visible when a product is purchased. A good example of this is online product support which is linked to
34
the individual product when purchased. The researcher did not purchase products on all the websites
which could result in missing functionalities. This is therefore a limitation of the empirical research.
After the identification of online B2C functionalities is finished on all the websites, the results are
generalized based on similarities of the functionalities. This generalization is done by the researcher and
through discussion with an E‐Commerce expert within the Rabobank. This resulted in a list of 78
generalized functionalities divided over general functionalities (21), search and identify (14), compare
and select (13), execute (18) and after sale support and services (12) as can be seen in Appendix II.
Further validation on completeness of B2C functionalities was done by asking test respondents of the
survey if there were any functionalities missing in the list. This did not result in adding functionalities to
the final list. Based on these identified functionalities a survey was developed.
Answer to Research sub question 1: Which functionalities are currently found in online B2C websites?
In an empirical website analysis of 277 Dutch B2C websites, 78 generalized online B2C functionalities
were identified by the researcher. These functionalities are divided into general functionalities (21),
search and identify functionalities (14), compare and select functionalities (13), execute functionalities
(18) and after sale support and services functionalities (12). The full list of functionalities can be found in
Appendix II.
Next a digital survey was developed by the researcher to assess which of the 78 functionalities found are
frequently used by consumers and which are best valued. A survey was chosen by the researcher
because this research method is well suited for reaching large numbers of consumers and this research
method is well suited for the collection of quantitative information about items of the population
(Verschuren et al., (2007, p.p. 167) . A digital survey was chosen because this allows for fast data
processing and limits the research costs. Another advantage of using a digital survey is the ability to
increase the completeness and reliability of the survey by including digital answer validation rules into
the survey. The usage of an online survey furthermore reduces the answering time for the respondents
which could result in higher response rates compared to an offline survey. A disadvantage of using a
digital survey is that the uniformity of the respondents decreases because only online consumers can be
reached. This limitation of a digital survey needs to be taken into account because this limits the
generalize ability of the survey. The results of the survey thereby only apply for online consumers. The
final survey included information on the study and consisted of 7 multiple choice questions, 18 multiple
selection questions and two open questions (See appendix III). Validation of the survey is done through
discussion with two E‐Commerce experts within the Rabobank and by the using 10 test users. These test
users were interviewed on validation and clarity of the survey questions. Based on their feedback,
several adaptations were made to the survey.
Two target groups for the survey were selected: Users from the RaboShop (450) and consumers from
the social network (90) of the researcher who did not have any relation to the Rabobank and thereby
never used the RaboShop. The users from the social network are added to the research to validate the
findings and to increase the generalize ability of the findings of the RaboShop users. Consumers from
the social network of the researcher are furthermore selected due to limited resources of the researcher.
35
The users from the RaboShop group will be referred to as the “Rabo” group and the consumers of the
social network of the researcher will be referred to as the “Social” group in the next part of this research.
Both target groups are not random samples which limit the generalize ability of the results.
3.3 Survey results The survey was sent to both target groups simultaneously and remained available for three weeks. After
these three weeks the survey was closed and the results were examined. In total 519 surveys were sent
of which 16 were undeliverable. Out of the remaining 503 surveys 156 surveys were returned, divided
over 113 respondents from the Rabo group and 43 respondents from the Social group. A general
overview on the main characteristics of the respondents in both target groups is given in table 3.2 and
an overview on most important findings in the general questions is given in table 3.3:
Results survey General Overview
Group invites undeliverable returned returned % average Age man woman
Rabo 452 15 113 25,9% 1965 49 64
Sociaal 67 1 43 65,2% 1976 33 10
Total 519 16 156 31,0% 1968 82 74
Table 3.2: Results survey General Overview
Question & most important answers: Rabo Sociaal Difference Sign 95% ( p<0,05)
Difference Sign (95%)
Question: How often do you use the internet?
Daily 96% 93% ‐3% 0,2 No
Question: How would you name your internet experience?
Beginner 0% 0% 0% 0,01 No
Average 42% 33% ‐9% 0,14 No
Experienced 52% 42% ‐10% 0 Yes
Expert 5% 26% 21% 0,06 no
Question: How often do you use the internet to search for information before a purchase?
Nearly always 34% 53% 19% 0 Yes
Often 36% 19% ‐17% 0 Yes
Question: How often do you purchase online?
Weekly 7% 12% 5% 0,07 No
Monthly 30% 33% 3% 0,57 No
Quarterly 28% 35% 7% 0,14 No
Yearly 31% 19% ‐12% 0 Yes
Question: Which channel is used for information search and which for purchase?
Online information search, offline purchase 58% 35% ‐23% 0,09 No
Online information search, online purchase 19% 51% 32% 0 Yes
Table 3.3: Results survey most important findings of the general survey questions
An important finding in the general results is the large difference in response rates between both target
groups (Rabo 25,9%, Social 65,2%). This is likely due to the relation between the researcher and the
social group. Furthermore a large difference in average age as well as a large difference in gender
divisions between both groups are important findings in the general overview on both target groups.
36
Other important general findings of the general are that over 93% of the respondents in both groups use
the internet on a daily basis and that nobody identified himself as a beginner on internet usage.
Furthermore nearly everyone has purchased products on the internet and most respondents in the Rabo
group would use the internet to search for information online but purchase offline when they want to
buy a complex product like a new laptop. In the Social group on the other had most respondents would
search online as well as purchase online when they want a new laptop. This difference between both
groups is significant for the online information search and online purchase answer indicating that the
Social group respondents are more willing to purchase products online.
Next the survey data on functionalities is examined on the number users and consumers who use the
functionality. Those functionalities used by 50% or more of the Rabo group are summarized in table 3.4
Table 3.4: Results survey most frequently used functionalities
Thirteen functionalities are identified as most frequently used and sorted based on the percentage of
Rabo group users which use the functionality. The results indicate for example that 84% of the Rabo
groups respondents use iDeal functionality and 81% of the Social group. The difference between both
groups is tested with a Lenene’s test for equality of variances which tests whether the variances in the
two groups are equal. If Levene’s test is significant at p <= .05 it can be concluded that the assumption of
homogeneity of variances is violated and that the results of both group are truly different. For the iDeal
functionality no significant difference was found. Those functionalities for which the Rabo group scores
higher compared to the Social groups and where the difference is significant are further discussed
because this indicated a possible bias in the importance the functionality from a Rabobank perspective.
This is found on two functionalities: “Winkelwagen gebruiksgemak” and “Nieuwsbrieven”. These
functionalities need to be further analyzed.
Answer to Research sub question 2: Which online B2C functionalities are most frequently used by
RaboShop users?
The survey results indicated thirteen online B2C functionalities (Table 3.4) which are used by 50% or more
of the RaboShop respondent group. These findings are compared to the Social network group which
indicated that two functionalities are significantly less used in the Social group. These functionalities are
Nr Functionality Total % Total Rabo % Rabo Social % Social % Difference
Difference Sign 95%
(p<0,05)1 Betalen met iDeal 130 83% 95 84% 35 81% -2% 0,432 Winkelwagen gebruiksgemak 104 67% 79 70% 25 58% -9% 0,023 Levertijd indicatie 115 74% 78 69% 37 86% 12% 0,004 Diverse lijsten 107 69% 77 68% 30 70% 1% 0,695 Uitgebreide zoek functies 113 72% 77 68% 36 84% 11% 0,006 Nieuwsbrieven 95 61% 74 65% 21 49% -12% 0,047 Product recensies van andere consumenten 108 69% 69 61% 39 91% 21% 0,008 Order status overzicht per e-mail of sms 99 63% 66 58% 33 77% 13% 0,009 FAQ 100 64% 64 57% 36 84% 20% 0,00
10 Locatie zoek diensten 90 58% 64 57% 26 60% 3% 0,3511 Klant account registratie voor snel bestel mog 93 60% 59 52% 34 79% 19% 0,0012 Track and trace services 90 58% 59 52% 31 72% 14% 0,0013 Betalen met creditcard 84 54% 57 50% 27 63% 12% 0,01
37
“Winkelwagen gebruiksgemak” and “Nieuwsbrieven”. For the remaining 11 functionalities the usage
frequency in the social group is either higher or the difference is not significant.
Next the survey data on functionalities is examined on the functionality evaluation by the Rabo and
Social groups. In each category, which is mentioned previously, the top three functionalities which were
best valued by the Rabobank group are presented in table 3.6 and in table 3.5 the overall best valued
functionalities are presented.
Table 3.5: Results survey best valued functionalities overall
Table 3.6: Results survey top three best valued functionalities per category
The resulting list contains 15 functionalities which are sorted based on the Rabo group’s evaluation in
each category in table 3.6 and overall in table 3.6. Eight of the functionalities in the list are also found in
the most frequently used list previously and seven are new. Especially in the last purchasing step of
Zhang (2008), all the functionalities are new compared to the previous list. The comparison with the
social group did not result in any significant lower functionality evaluation by the social group.
Answer to Research sub question 3: Which online B2C functionalities are best valued by RaboShop
users?
The survey results indicated a list (Table 3.5) of 15 best overall valued functionalities by RaboShop users.
These online B2C functionalities were validated by comparing with the social group. This did not result in
any significant lower functionality evaluation.
Nr Category Functionality Total % Total Rabo % Rabo Social % Social % Difference
Difference Sign 95%
(p<0,05)1 Zhang Step 3 Betalen met iDeal 102 65% 77 68% 25 58% -7% 0,052 Zhang Step 1 Diverse lijsten 79 51% 59 52% 20 47% -4% 0,763 Zhang Step 2 Product recensies van andere consumenten 85 54% 58 51% 27 63% 8% 0,014 Zhang Step 1 Uitgebreide zoek functies 78 50% 51 45% 27 63% 13% 0,055 General FAQ 69 44% 42 37% 27 63% 19% 0,996 Zhang Step 1 Locatie zoek diensten 59 38% 40 35% 19 44% 6% 0,117 Zhang Step 4 Online vragen, evaluatie of klachten formulier 60 38% 40 35% 20 47% 8% 0,078 Zhang Step 3 Beveiligde transactie 55 35% 37 33% 18 42% 7% 0,089 Zhang Step 4 Online product retourneer mogelijkheden 51 33% 37 33% 14 33% 0% 0,9710 Zhang Step 3 Levertijd indicatie 56 36% 36 32% 20 47% 11% 0,0211 General Nieuwsbrieven 45 29% 34 30% 11 26% -3% 0,2512 Zhang Step 2 Product recensies van experts 53 34% 31 27% 22 51% 17% 0,0013 Zhang Step 2 3D product afbeeldingen 43 28% 29 26% 14 33% 5% 0,1114 Zhang Step 1 Hoge kwaliteit product afbeeldingen 53 34% 29 26% 24 56% 22% 0,0015 Zhang Step 2 Product feature vergelijking 51 33% 29 26% 22 51% 18% 0,00
Nr Category Functionality Total % Total Rabo % Rabo Social % Social % Difference
Difference Sign 95%
(p<0,05)1 General FAQ 69 44% 42 37% 27 63% 26% 0,992 General Locatie zoek diensten 59 38% 40 35% 19 44% 9% 0,113 General Nieuwsbrieven 45 29% 34 30% 11 26% -5% 0,254 Zhang Step 1 Diverse lijsten 79 51% 59 52% 20 47% -6% 0,765 Zhang Step 1 Uitgebreide zoek functies 78 50% 51 45% 27 63% 18% 0,056 Zhang Step 1 Hoge kwaliteit product afbeeldingen 53 34% 29 26% 24 56% 30% 0,007 Zhang Step 2 Product recensies van andere consumenten 85 54% 58 51% 27 63% 11% 0,018 Zhang Step 2 Product recensies van experts 53 34% 31 27% 22 51% 24% 0,009 Zhang Step 2 Product feature vergelijking 51 33% 29 26% 22 51% 25% 0,0010 Zhang Step 3 Betalen met iDeal 102 65% 77 68% 25 58% -10% 0,0511 Zhang Step 3 Beveiligde transactie 55 35% 37 33% 18 42% 9% 0,0812 Zhang Step 3 Levertijd indicatie 56 36% 36 32% 20 47% 15% 0,0213 Zhang Step 4 Online vragen, evaluatie of klachten formulier 60 38% 40 35% 20 47% 11% 0,0714 Zhang Step 4 Online product retourneer mogelijkheden 51 33% 37 33% 14 33% 0% 0,9715 Zhang Step 4 Troubleshooting guide 40 26% 26 23% 14 33% 10% 0,03
38
For the determination of the most promising online B2C functionalities for the RaboShop not only the
current most frequently used and best valued functionalities are taken into account but also those
functionalities which are expected to become more important in the coming years. To assess which
functionalities will become more important in the coming year two analyses are proposed. The first
analysis is based on consumer age. Previous research indicated that age is an important factor in
internet purchasing. Young consumers are in general more familiar with the internet because they grew
up in the digital age (Seock et al., 2006). By looking at those functionalities important to young
consumers, an indication of important functionalities for the future can be given as these functionalities
are also more likely to increase in customer value due to aging of the customers. The second analysis is
based on the type of consumers. Internet consumer purchasing is growing rapidly and consumers are
increasingly using the internet as a shopping medium. By looking at functionalities used by consumers
which are already using the internet as a shopping channel on a frequent basis and for the purchase of
complex products, a better insight into functionalities for the future can be gained as the functionalities
used by these consumers are more likely to increase in consumer value due to the rapid growth of the
internet purchasing medium. Those functionalities used by 50% or more of the young consumers (< 35
years old) can be in Table 3.7 and those functionalities used by 50% or more of consumers who would
purchase a complex product like a laptop online can be found in Table 3.8
Table 3.7: Results survey most important functionalities young (<35 Year) consumers
Table 3.8: Results survey most important functionalities frequent online purchase consumer
Important finding of the age analysis is that all the functionalities in the list are more often used by
young consumers than by older consumers. This supports the assumption that young consumers are
Nr Functionality Score % Total Young % Young Old % Old % Difference
Difference Sign 95%
(p<0,05)1 Betalen met iDeal 130 83% 48 89% 82 80% -8% 0,002 Levertijd indicatie 115 74% 46 85% 69 68% -18% 0,003 Product recensies van andere consumenten 108 69% 44 81% 64 63% -19% 0,004 Klant account registratie voor snel bestel mogelijkheden 93 60% 43 80% 50 49% -31% 0,005 Uitgebreide zoek functies 113 72% 42 78% 71 70% -8% 0,026 FAQ 100 64% 41 76% 59 58% -18% 0,007 Order status overzicht per e-mail of sms 99 63% 41 76% 58 57% -19% 0,008 Locatie zoek diensten 90 58% 39 72% 51 50% -22% 0,009 Diverse lijsten 107 69% 39 72% 68 67% -6% 0,1410 Track and trace services 90 58% 37 69% 53 52% -17% 0,0011 Hoge kwaliteit product afbeeldingen 76 49% 36 67% 40 39% -27% 0,1312 Winkelwagen gebruiksgemak 104 67% 36 67% 68 67% 0% 1,0013 Product recensies van experts 73 47% 32 59% 41 40% -19% 0,9014 Betalen met creditcard 84 54% 32 59% 52 51% -8% 0,0715 3D product afbeeldingen 64 41% 31 57% 33 32% -25% 0,0316 Klant herkennings functionaliteiten 61 39% 30 56% 31 30% -25% 0,0117 Product features vergelijking 63 40% 29 54% 34 33% -20% 0,0218 Verkoper voorraad informatie 65 42% 28 52% 37 36% -16% 0,04
Nr Functionality Score Totaal Online % Online Offline %Offline VerschilDifference Sign 95%
(p<0,05)1 Uitgebreide zoek functies 113 72% 38 70% 75 74% 3% 0,002 Levertijd indicatie 115 74% 37 69% 78 76% 8% 0,003 Betalen met iDeal 130 83% 36 67% 94 92% 25% 0,874 Product recensies van andere consumenten 108 69% 35 65% 73 72% 7% 0,005 Order status overzicht per e-mail of sms 99 63% 35 65% 64 63% -2% 0,006 Diverse lijsten 107 69% 34 63% 73 72% 9% 0,007 FAQ 100 64% 32 59% 68 67% 7% 0,008 Klant account registratie voor snel bestel mogelijkheden 93 60% 32 59% 61 60% 1% 0,009 Track and trace services 90 58% 31 57% 59 58% 0% 0,0010 Hoge kwaliteit product afbeeldingen 76 49% 29 54% 47 46% -8% 0,0211 Product recensies van experts 73 47% 28 52% 45 44% -8% 0,22
39
more familiar with the internet. Furthermore twelve of the eighteen functionalities were already
identified in the previous analysis. The results on the type of consumer that would purchases a laptop
online resulted in nine out of eleven functionalities already identified previously.
Based on the previous four analyses the most promising functionalities are selected by using the top 5
functionalities of each analysis and removing the duplicates. This resulted in 10 functionalities which are
presented in Table 3.9.
Table 3.9: Most promising online B2C functionalities
First of all many of the functionalities are found in multiple of the analyses. Secondly the functionality
“Winkelwagen gebruiksgemak” mentioned previously is included into the list because even though the
difference between the Rabo and the Social group was significant, the usage frequency of the Social
remained high.
Answer to Research sub question 4: Which functionalities are most promising for E‐Procurement
systems?
Based on the results of the four analyses on the survey results the top 5 functionalities of each analysis
were selected. This resulted of a list (Table 3.8) of the 10 most promising functionalities out of the initial
78 functionalities identified in the websites identification process.
Nr Functionality
1 Betalen met iDeal2 Winkelwagen gebruiksgemak3 Levertijd indicatie4 Diverse lijsten
5 Uitgebreide zoek functies 6 FAQ 7 Product recensies van andere consumenten8 Online vragen, evaluatie of klachten formulier
9 Klant account registratie voor snel bestel mogelijkheden10 Order status overzicht per e-mail of sms
40
3.4 Functionality assessment on B2B E‐Procurement fit In this part the most promising functionalities found in the previous B2C analysis are further assessed on
fit within the E‐Procurement system of the RaboShop. In this part an answer to the fifth research
question is given: “How to assess the most promising B2C functionalities which would fit best for the
RaboShop?” This is done through empirical research based on preliminary research, documentation
within the Rabobank, user feedback sessions, interviews with E‐Commerce and E‐Procurement experts
and end users of the RaboShop. A fit on functionality usage within the RaboShop is further assessed
using the following steps:
1. B2B equivalent functionality determination
2. Existing equivalent functionality in the
RaboShop
Feature wish lists
3. Business determinants
Business Strategy
Business Processes
Business Technology
4. End user
Ease of use
Further elaboration on these steps is given in chapter four.
1. B2B equivalent functionality determination The first step is to transform the online B2C functionality into a B2B equivalent functionality. This is done by mapping the functionalities of the B2C purchasing model of Zhang onto the B2B purchasing model of the Rabobank and through further discussion with E‐Commerce and E‐Procurement experts within the Rabobank. The results of the equivalent functionalities are given in table 3.10.
Nr. Zhang (2008)
B2C Functionality B2B equivalent
1 Step 3 Betalen met iDeal Electronic invoicing and payment
2 Step 3 Winkelwagen gebruiksgemak Online shopping car ease of use
3 Step 3 Levertijd indicatie Delivery time notification
4 Step 2 Diverse lijsten (Meest verkocht, Meest bekeken)
Several lists (most sold, best viewed) *
5 Step 2 Uitgebreide zoek functies (B.V. op product karakteristieken)
Extended search options (e.g. product characteristics)
6 General FAQ Frequently asked questions
7 Step 2 Product recensies van andere consumenten Product reviews other users
8 Step 4 Online vragen, evaluatie of klachten formulier Online question, evaluation or compaint forms
9 Step 3 Klant account registratie voor snel bestel mogelijkheden
Automatic link to order and delivery information of prefered user
10 Step 3 Order status overzicht per e‐mail of sms Order status overview by mail or sms
* From the context of the end user to support the selection purchasing step
Table 3.10: B2C transformation to B2B equivalent functionalities
41
2. Existing Functionality
The next check is to verify whether the equivalent functionality is not already found in the RaboShop or
whether the functionality is not already identified by the RaboShop as promising to be implemented in
the future. The assessment is done by comparing equivalent functionalities provided in the RaboShop. If
there is an equivalent functionality found which fulfills identical services to the end user the
functionality is seen as already in the RaboShop. This check is done through consulting E‐Procurement
experts within the RaboShop and by reviewing the request for change lists (RFC) of the RaboShop.
The following questions were answered:
a) Which of the following B2C functionalities has a B2B equivalent functionality in the RaboShop?
b) Which of the following B2C functionalities is already addressed for future improvement of
development?
The results are presented in table 3.11 and divided on a matrix in figure 3.2.
Nr. B2C Functionality Equivalent Functionality already in the RaboShop?
Equivalent Functionality on the RFC
list?
1 Betalen met iDeal Yes Yes
2 Winkelwagen gebruiksgemak Yes Yes
3 Levertijd indicatie Yes No
4 Diverse lijsten (Meest verkocht, Meest bekeken, etc.) No No
5 Uitgebreide zoek functies (B.V. op product karakteristieken) Yes Yes
6 FAQ Yes Yes
7 Product recensies van andere consumenten No No
8 Online vragen, evaluatie of klachten formulier No No
9 Klant account registratie voor snel bestel mogelijkheden Yes No
10 Order status overzicht per e‐mail of sms No Yes Table 3.11: Promising B2C functionalities novelty check
42
The results are divided into a matrix with four options and are given in figure 3.2.
Equivalent Functionality already in the RaboShop?
Yes No
Equivalen
t Functionality on the
Req
uest for change list? Y
es
Quadrant A: Improve Quadrant B: Assess implementation
1.Betalen met iDeal 10.Order status overzicht per e‐mail of sms
2.Winkelwagen gebruiksgemak
5.Uitgebreide zoek functies
6.FAQ
No
Quadrant C: Verify Quadrant D: Assess fit
3.Levertijd indicatie 9.Klant account registratie voor snel bestel mogelijkheden
4.Diverse lijsten
7.Product recensies van andere consumenten
8.Online vragen, evaluatie of klachten formulier
Figure 3.2: Promising B2C functionalities novelty check Matrix
The results in Quadrant A are those functionalities of which an equivalent functionality is found within
the RaboShop but of which improvements possibilities are already identified by the RaboShop
development team. Improvement of the B2C functionalities equivalent is important as these
functionalities are found to be important functionalities in the B2C world.
The results in Quadrant B are those functionalities of which an equivalent functionality is not found
within the RaboShop but of which future implementation possibilities are already identified by the
RaboShop development team. Implementation of a B2B equivalent functionality is very important as
already recognized by the RaboShop development team. In the next step the functionalities in this step
need to be further assessed on fit within the business.
The results in Quadrant C are those functionalities of which an equivalent functionality is found within
the RaboShop but of which no future improvements possibilities are identified by the RaboShop
development team. It is recommended to double check if there are no further improvement possibilities
on these functionalities as these functionalities were found to be one of the most important
functionalities in the B2C world.
The results in Quadrant D are those functionalities of which an equivalent functionality is not found
within the RaboShop and of which no future implementation possibilities are identified by the RaboShop
development team. These functionalities are recommended to be further analyzed on fit within the
business as these functionalities are found to be important functionalities in the B2C world. These
functionalities are therefore also further assessed in the next step together with the functionalities of
Quadrant B
43
3. Business determinants
The functionalities on quadrant B and D are in this part further assessed to verify whether
implementation of the B2C functionality would make sense into the RaboShop. This is done by looking at
the effects implementation would have on the strategy of the company, the effect on the existing
technology and the effects on the existing business processes. The following questions were answered:
a) Which of the following B2C functionalities fits with the business strategy?
b) Which of the following B2C functionalities fits with existing purchasing process?
c) Which of the following B2C functionalities fits with existing technologies?
The results are presented in table 3.12.
Nr. B2C Functionality Strategy Process Technology impact
10 Order status overzicht per e‐mail of sms Yes Yes Low
4 Diverse lijsten Yes Yes High
7 Product recensies van andere consumenten Yes Yes high
8 Online vragen, evaluatie of klachten formulier Yes Yes Medium
Table 3.12: B2C Functionality assessment on business fit
The results indicate that all the B2C functionalities would fit the business strategy as well as the business
processes. The results on technology impact differ. Functionality number 10 could for example be
implemented with very limited impact on the existing technology as SAP offers standard functionality to
support this functionality. Functionalities number 4 and 7 on the other hand would require extensive
customization of the system which has a high impact on the existing system. On functionality number 8
SAP offers some functionality to support this and therefore the impact of this functionality is considered
medium. The final step would be to verify amongst the end users which of the B2C functionalities would
have a positive effect on the ease of use of the system.
4. End user verification
The last check is to verify whether inclusion of the equivalent B2B functionality would increase the ease
of use for the end user. This step is only partially fulfilled in the empirical study due to limited time and
resources. The functionalities identified previously thereby first need to be checked with the end user
before Rabobank should consider implementation.
3.5 Empirical Conclusion This part has provided an answer to the fifth sub research question: “How to assess the most promising
B2C functionalities which would fit best for the RaboShop?”. In this empirical research chapter the most
important functionalities found in the B2C world were identified and assessed on fit within the
44
RaboShop. The identification of online B2C websites resulted in a list of 78 functionalities which were
next surveyed amongst users of the RaboShop on their importance and their usage frequency. After
analysis based on best valued functionalities, most used functionalities, most used functionalities by
young consumers and most used functionalities by frequent online buying consumers a list of the top 10
most promising B2C functionalities for usage in B2B E‐Procurement systems was identified. This list of
functionalities was next assessed on a fit within the RaboShop by using experts on E‐Commerce and E‐
Procurement within the Rabobank as well as data collected in previous user evaluation sessions and end
user validation. This resulted in the recognition of four B2C functionalities which had equivalent B2B
functionalities but could be improved, three which were already covered within the RaboShop, one
which was not covered but was already identified as important and three which where new. These last
four were further assessed on fit within the business based on strategy, processes and technology which
showed that all four had potential for usage within the Raboshop on strategy and processes. The
technology aspects differed: one would have a low impact, one would have a medium impact and two
would have a high impact.
45
4. B2C to B2B functionality identification and assessment framework E‐Procurement systems are important for many companies in today’s business world as these systems
have many potential benefits like increase process transparency, procurement cost reduction and
increased purchasing power already mentioned in chapter two. These benefits can only be fully gained
when the implementation is successful and for this success the end user plays an important role, which
is illustrated by many success and fail factors found in literature as also mentioned in chapter two.
In the online B2C world the customer also plays an important role and to attain existing and attract new
customers new functionalities are developed continuously. This creates opportunities for companies
with B2B E‐Procurement systems to improve the attractiveness of their E‐Procurement systems by
including those functionalities which are most important in the online B2C world. By adding those
functionalities the ease of use of the E‐Procurement systems can be improved which in turn is presumed
in this study to have a positive effect on the user adoption of the E‐Procurement system. Because of the
continuous development of new functionalities in the online B2C world it is important to monitor these
developments on a regular basis to detect new opportunities to improve the B2B E‐Procurement
system.
In this chapter a general identification and assessment framework is developed based on the empirical
research previously conducted. With this framework managers and E‐Procurement developer can
systematically identify new opportunities to improve their E‐Procurement system based on
functionalities offered in the online B2C world.
This chapter consists of two parts:
1. The process of identifying the most important online B2C functionalities
2. The assessment of a B2C functionality on fit within an existing B2B E‐Procurement system
This chapter will discuss both parts individually because both parts can be used by managers separately.
The first part can be used to identify the most promising functionalities in the B2C world which could for
example be done every 2 years to monitor the B2C world. The second part can be used to assess
functionalities on suitability for B2B E‐Procurement fit. If a new functionality is for example introduced
by Bol.com, this second part could help to assess the potential fit with the existing E‐Procurement
system.
46
4.1 Part I: B2C functionality identification and evaluation In this part the identification and evaluation process of the most important online B2C functionalities is
presented. The goal of this part is to identify the most important functionalities offered by online B2C
websites in a structured from. The first step is to identify the offered online B2C functionalities and to
classify them according to the purchasing steps of Zhang (2008). The next step is to evaluate these
offered functionalities by consumers and the third step is to analyze the results of the customer
evaluation which will be most promising for B2B E‐Procurement usage. The steps are visually presented
in figure 4.1.
Figure 4.1: Online B2C functionality assessment steps
In the first step all the available functionalities on B2C websites need to be identified in a structured
form and they need to be categorized. Identification of functionalities on websites can be by using the
definition of an online B2C functionality provided in the previous chapter. The definition is:
Online B2C website functionalities are software related technical service features which enhance the
online experience of the consumer.
Based on this definition a pre‐selected sample of websites should be carefully examined on all the
software related technical service features which enhance the experience of the customer. The
examination can be done in many ways, for example by asking users to identify functionalities they see
on websites or by identification by the researcher(s).
When a new feature is found which meets the definition of enhancing the online experience of the
customer, this functionality should be categorized. This categorization is done based on the purchasing
process of Zhang (2008) as mentioned in the chapter two. Those functionalities which can be directly
assigned to one of the purchasing steps need to be classified in that purchasing process step. All the
functionalities which cannot directly be assigned to one of the purchasing steps need to be classified
into the general functionality list. The general functionalities can be seen as soft functionalities because
they are more related to attracting customers toward the website. The functionalities which are
classified in one of the purchasing steps can be viewed as hard functionalities because they relate
directly to purchases. The classification framework is shown in figure 4.2.
1. Identification online B2C functionalities
2. Consumer evaluation
3. Analysis results
47
Figure 4.2: Online B2C classification framework
Finally all the functionalities in the same classification need to be generalized and combined based on
similarities and functionality characteristics. The resulting list of functionalities should not relate to a
single company, website or product for objectivity reasons. This is important because the goal is to
identify important functionalities in the online world instead of functionalities on a single website. This
removes aspects like quality of implementation, customer’s attitude towards the website, company or
products and much more as already mentioned in the previous chapter.
The second step is to evaluate the importance of the functionalities found in the first step from a
customer’s perspective. The evaluation should provide an answer to the question which functionalities
are used most frequently by the online consumer and which of the functionalities are best valued by the
online consumer. This evaluation can for example be done in a customer survey or by interviewing
several consumers. Important in this evaluation step are validation and reliability. The representations
of the research sample as well as the sample size are very important aspects. The target group should
preferably be an independent sample and large enough to be able to draw significant results.
Furthermore the customer evaluation should capture consumer information like age, purchasing
frequency and the type of consumer. This customer information is needed for the analysis in the third
step.
The third step is the analysis of the results of the second step. For this several factors are included to
determine which functionalities are most promising to be used in the B2B E‐Procurement system. These
analyses are developed to identify important functionalities in the present and also to identify
functionalities expected to be important in the future. These analyses can differ in different situations or
when different factors are important. The four analyses used in this study are and will be further
explained below:
1. Which functionalities are most frequently used by consumers?
2. Which functionalities are best valued by consumers on each purchasing step?
3. Which functionalities are best valued by frequent internet purchasing consumers?
4. Which functionalities are best valued important to young consumers?
The first analysis relates to those functionalities which increase the attractiveness of a website. This is
important because previous research has already indicated a link between consumer’s intention to
search on a website and consumer’s intention to purchase on that same website (Seock et al., 2006).
This research furthermore assumes that adding more customer preferred functionalities will increase
the attractiveness and ease of use for the customer and will thereby increase the success of a website of
Search and IdentifyCompare and Select
ExecuteSupport and Services
General Functionalities
48
an E‐Procurement system. The second analysis is related to the purchasing process steps. Previous
research indicated that the type of product and the product complexity were important determinants
for the purchasing process of the customer. As found in the previous chapter, complex products require
more information searching and comparing compared to the low complex products (Kuo et al., 2004).
Functionalities provided in these steps might therefore be more important depending on the type of
products offered. Therefore in this second analysis the functionalities are examined on customer value
on each of the four purchasing steps. The third analysis is related to the type of consumers. Internet
consumer purchasing is growing rapidly and consumers are increasingly using the internet as a shopping
medium. By looking at the functionalities used by consumers which are already using the internet as a
shopping channel on a frequent basis, a better insight into functionalities for the future can be gained as
the functionalities used by these consumers are more likely to increase in consumer value due to the
rapid growth of the internet purchasing medium. The fourth analysis is also related to the future
purchasing landscape. Previous research indicated that age is an important factor in internet purchasing.
Young consumers are in general more familiar with the internet because they grew up in the digital age
(Seock et al., 2006). By looking at those functionalities important to young consumers, an indication of
important functionalities for the future can be given as these functionalities are also more likely to
increase in customer value due to aging of the customers.
Based on these four analyses the most important online B2C functionalities should be determined. The
weight of each of the analyses can vary based on importance for the company. Some companies might
look for functionalities for future usage and therefore attach more value to the third and fourth analysis
while other companies might value more those functionalities which are important in one of the
purchasing steps. In the next part the steps to assess these functionalities on fit within a B2B E‐
Procurement system are presented.
49
4.2 Part II: B2B functionality transformation In this part the steps needed to assess the online B2C functionalities on B2B E‐Procurement fit are
presented. This second part will thereby answer the question whether a new B2C functionality can be
used in the existing E‐Procurement system. The steps of this part are given in figure 4.3:
Figure 4.3: B2C functionality assessment steps for B2B E‐Procurement fit
In the first step the online B2C functionality needs to be transformed into a B2B equivalent
functionality. This can be done by mapping the purchasing step of Zhang (2008) in which the B2C
functionality was classified onto the operational B2B purchasing steps for the end user like the model
used by the Rabobank or the model of van Weele (2005). The transformation figure is given in figure 4.4.
Figure 4.4: Transformation of the Zhang (2008) purchasing functionality into a van Weele (2005) purchasing functionality
A functionality as iDeal found in the online B2C world was classified into the execution step of Zhang
(2008) in chapter three. To find an B2B end user equivalent functionality this functionality can be
mapped into the order purchasing step of van Weele (2005). An example B2B equivalent functionality
could thereby be electronic invoicing and payment. Each B2C functionality should be mapped in such a
way to find a B2B equivalent functionality.
1. Transform B2C functionality into an equivalent B2B functionality
2. Examine existing E‐Procurement system on equivalent B2B functionality
3. Analyze missing equivalent B2B functionalities on fit with the business determinants
4. Verification with the end users
50
In the second step the existing system should be evaluated whether the B2B equivalent functionality is
already in the system and if the B2B equivalent functionality is scheduled for implementation or
improvements for the future to fulfill the needs of the users. This evaluation will result in a matrix with
four quadrants given in figure 4.5:
Equivalent Functionality found in existing E‐Procurement solution?
Yes No
Equivalen
t functionality sched
uled for
improvemen
t or im
plemen
tation?
Yes
Quadrant A: Quadrant B:
Verify Assess implementation
No
Quadrant C: Quadrant D:
Improve Assess fit
Figure 4.5: B2B equivalent evaluation matrix
The functionalities in Quadrant A need to be verified whether they are truly sufficiently developed into
the system to fulfill the needs of the users. If this is true no further actions need to be taken.
The functionalities in Quadrant C need are already scheduled for improvement and this is very
important. Future actions on these functionalities will thereby be to improve these functionalities as
soon as possible.
The functionalities in Quadrant B are already identified by the company as being important
opportunities for improvement of the system as they are already scheduled for implementation in the
future. Future action would be to further assess whether the functionality can be implemented into the
E‐Procurement system if not already done by the company. If not, the assessment can be done using
step three. Otherwise if the assessment was positive an implementation of the functionality is highly
recommended.
The functionalities in Quadrant D are not already identified by the company and therefore first need to
be assessed on fit with the E‐Procurement system and the business. Future actions on these
functionalities will thereby be to further assess fit based on the business determinants presented in step
three.
In the third step the assessments on fit with the business is assessed. This is done using the business
determinants identified by Wang et al. (2001). These business determinants are the business strategy,
the business processes and the business technology. Based on the expected impact the equivalent B2B
functionality would have on these business determinants the fit of the functionality is determined.
51
The business strategy determinant deals with the impact the functionality has on the business strategy.
The company strategy is the determination of the basic long‐term goals and objectives of an enterprise,
and the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of resources necessary for carrying out these
goals, (Chandler, 1962). Any new functionality should be in line with these long‐term goals and
objectives. When for example the purchasing strategy of a company is to build long term relationships
with key suppliers new functionalities should not conflict with this long term goal. Price comparison
functionality focused on where to get the products for the lowest price conflicts with this goal. When E‐
Procurement users mainly buy products at the cheapest supplier no real strategic relationship can be
developed. This new price comparison functionality should thereby not be implemented into the E‐
Procurement system in such a form. Only when functionality fits in such a way for the business that it
does not inflict with the E‐Procurement should implementation be considered.
The business process determinant deals with the existing purchasing processes and how are affected by
the implementation of the functionality. What will be the effect on the existing purchasing processes
and how do they need to be changed? A good example of this is track and trace functionality which is
highly valued by consumers in the B2C world. This functionality requires large changes in the existing
value chain when this is not jet included in the existing E‐Procurement system. The suppliers for
example needs to make changes to their systems, the logistical services might need to make changes.
These systems might need to be connected for information exchange. These changes involve a high level
of collaboration with suppliers and investments which need to be made by suppliers. Not all suppliers
might be willing to make these changes and this could affect the usefulness of the functionality. Before
implementation of a new functionality these effects should be examined before the new functionality
could be considered.
The business technology determinant deals with the existing technology and how are affected by the
implementation of the functionality. Technology changes differ depending on the functionality. For
some functionalities the additional software might already be available or can be easily included while
other require custom made changes which could in turn be very expensive. Furthermore the changes
need to be tested and users might need to receive additional training to use the new functionality. A
good example of this is new search functionality based on product characteristics. First the database
needs to include information on product characteristics. This information is provided by suppliers and
they need to know how to include this information to their products. Next the E‐Procurement software
needs to be changed or rewritten and the users need to receive information or training how to use the
new search functionality. Most of these changes thereby require time, money and risks. Careful
examination of the amount of time, money and risks involved is needed to further assess the potential
of the new functionality.
When the results of the third step indicate a fit with the business a final verification with the end users
of the E‐Procurement systems needs to be done in order to make sure that the online B2C equivalent
B2B functionality is also in the B2B world valued by the users. A functionality which truly adds value to
online B2C shopping does not always add value to B2B purchasing. A good example of this is the
functionality “safe shopping trust mark”. This functionality provides additional trust for the customer in
the B2C world. In the E‐Procurement world this trust mark would not always add any additional value
52
because the suppliers in the E‐Procurement system are already screened by the company. Adding
functionality from the B2C world should also add additional value to the E‐Procurement system and this
should be carefully examined. Skipping this could result in including and development of a functionality
which fails to increase the ease of use for the users and which thereby not increase the user adoption of
the E‐Procurement solution. This can for example be done through a small user survey or by user
interviews. Based on the results the additional value of the new functionality needs to be determined
and based on this value one should determine whether implementation of the new functionality is
useful. In the next part a framework based on the steps presented in Part I and Part II is presented.
4.3 Functionality Identification and Assessment framework In this part the final framework is presented for systematic assessment of the online B2C world on new
functionality opportunities for B2B E‐Procurement solutions. The framework can be used by the
Rabobank as well as other companies with E‐Procurement solutions, where user adoption is of key
important, to help them to identify new functionality opportunities to include into the E‐Procurement
system to improve the user adoption and thereby the success of the E‐Procurement solution. The
framework is given in figure 4.6:
Figure 4.6: B2C Identification, evaluation and B2B assessment framework
53
5. Conclusions & limitations This chapter will present the conclusion of the study. The aim of this study was to identify improvement
opportunities for user adoption improvement for the E‐Procurement system of the Rabobank, the
RaboShop, by identifying the most important functionalities found in the online B2C world.
Furthermore, the aim of this study was to develop a general framework to systematically assess the
online B2C world on these new functionality opportunities for future usage within the Rabobank or for
usage within other companies who could benefit on increasing the user adoption of their E‐Procurement
solution.
For this the study has dealt with the development of a structural identification process on available
online B2C functionalities, the customer evaluation on these found functionalities and the analysis to
recognize the most important B2C functionalities based on the customer evaluation. This study further
more dealt with the fit assessment of the most important functionalities found for usage within the
RaboShop: Which identified B2C functionalities are already in the system in the form of a B2B equivalent
functionality and is this equivalent functionality sufficiently developed. On those functionalities which
do not have a B2B equivalent in the RaboShop, an analysis on a fit for usage in the RaboShop is
conducted based on a fit with the business strategy, a fit with the existing processes and the impact
implementation has on the technology.
In the first part of this chapter the answer to the main research questions is presented. In the second
part the recommendations for the company and practitioners are given. In the third part the
recommendations for future research are presented and in the fourth part the limitations of the
research are discussed.
5.1 Feedback to the main research question This part of the conclusion will return to the main research question and the main answer. The main
research question of this study was:
Which online B2C functionalities are important to create further adoption and success of the E‐
Procurement system of the Rabobank?
To answer this question empirical research on the available online B2C functionalities was performed to
identify which online B2C functionalities were offered. This resulted in a list of 78 online B2C
functionalities. Next these functionalities formed the basis for a consumer survey presented to 452
users of RaboShop as well as 67 consumers from the social network of the researcher which served as a
control group. The 156 successfully returned surveys were next analyzed using four analyses which
resulted in a list of the top 10 most promising online B2C functionalities for usage in a B2B E‐
Procurement system.
These top 10 most promising functionalities were next further assessed on fit within the RaboShop. This
was done by first transforming the B2C functionality into an equivalent B2B functionality by mapping the
B2C purchasing process onto the B2B end user purchasing process. Next the equivalent functionality
was assessed on existence within the RaboShop and on the Request for Change list of the RaboShop.
54
This resulted in a matrix which placed each of the ten most promising functionalities into an action
quadrant which is given in figure 5.1.
Equivalent Functionality already in the RaboShop?
Yes No
Equivalen
t Functionality on the Req
uest for
change list?
Yes
Quadrant A: Improve Quadrant B: Assess implementation
Betalen met iDeal Order status overzicht per e‐mail of sms
Winkelwagen gebruiksgemak
Uitgebreide zoek functies
FAQ
No
Quadrant C: Verify Quadrant D: Assess fit
Levertijd indicatie
Klant account registratie voor snel bestel mogelijkheden
Diverse lijsten (Meest verkocht, best bekeken)
Product recensies van andere consumenten
Online vragen, evaluatie of klachten formulier
Figure 5.1: Online B2C functionalities matrix check for usage on fit within the RaboShop
Those functionalities which did not already exist in the RaboShop were next further examined on fit
within the RaboShop by looking at three business determinants: Business strategy, Business process and
Business Technology. The answer of the main research question is thereby based on the empirical
findings of chapter three, that the functionalities equivalents of “Betalen met iDeal”, “Winkelwagen
gebruiksgemak”, Uitgebreide zoek functies” and “FAQ” are important for the success of the RaboShop
and need to be improved as already recognized by the development team of the RaboShop. The
functionality equivalent of “order status overzicht per e‐mail of sms” is also important for the success of
the RaboShop and need to be implemented into the RaboShop as already recognized by the
development team of the RaboShop. Finally the functionality equivalents of “Diverse lijsten (mees
verkocht, meest bekeken)”, “Product recensies andere consumenten” and “online vragen evaluaties of
klachten formulier” could be important for the success of the RaboShop, depending on the impact
implementation of the new functionality has. In this study the impact is valued medium to high on these
functionalities and this requires further analysis beyond the scope of this study on whether these
functionalities are worth implementing. Given their importance in the online B2C world it is highly
recommended for the Rabobank to further assess their B2B equivalent functionalities on
implementation possibilities.
55
5.2 Recommendations for the company and practitioners The Rabobank recognizes the importance of user adoption for their E‐Procurement as their strategy is to
“seducing/tempting” users to increasingly use the RaboShop. Because of the innovative nature of the
only B2C world and the continuous developments on functionalities the Rabobank would greatly benefit
from a periodic scan on these B2C functionality opportunities. Many of the functionalities identified in
this study are relatively new like the functionalities “iDeal” and “twitter”. Their popularity increased
rapidly and therefore it is highly recommended for the Rabobank to systematically monitor the online
B2C market for new functionality opportunities on a regular basis. This study provides a solution for this
by presenting a framework which can help Rabobank to monitor the B2C world for new functionality
opportunities. This framework is based on literature and empirical research and can be used in two
purposes: the first is for systematic identification and user evaluation of online B2C functionality
opportunities and the second to assess whether an online B2C functionality would fit within the existing
B2B E‐Procurement solution of a company. This second part can thereby also be used independently
from the first part. This framework can also be used by other practitioners in the field of E‐Procurement
as many other companies with E‐Procurement solutions can benefit of increased user adoption of their
E‐Procurement solution. The framework is given in figure 5.2.
Figure 5.2: Online B2C functionality identification, evaluation and B2B fit assessment framework
56
5.3 Recommendations for future research This study is one of the first to identify online B2C functionalities as opportunities to improve the user
adoption of B2B E‐Procurement systems and thereby had to make several assumptions. In this part the
recommendations for future research are given.
Firstly, the framework developed in this study is primarily based on the empirical research conducted at
the Rabobank. To be able to use the framework within other companies it is recommended to further
asses the framework within other companies. This could result in additional or new methods to assess
the B2C functionalities on fit within a B2B E‐Procurement system.
Secondly, it is recommended to further assess the impact adding new functionalities has on the user
adoption of E‐Procurement systems. Are there any pitfalls when it comes to adding B2C specific
functionalities to B2B E‐Procurement systems? This transformation is recommended to be further
researched to fully capture the potential benefit of the B2C functionality in the B2B E‐Procurement
system.
Thirdly, it is recommended to assess whether there are also functionalities which decrease the ease of
use of the E‐Procurement system. Adding to much functionality to a system can for example result in
more complex system which has a higher learning curve and might thereby decrease user adoption.
Fourthly, it is recommended to assess how to implement the equivalent B2B functionality best. This is
important because the B2C functionalities were generalized on order to capture the importance of the
functionality as a whole from the customer’s perspective. To implement the functionality it should next
be assessed on the best implementation factors.
5.4 Limitations of the study This study has several limitations which are discussed in this part. Firstly, the research is based on the
assumption that adding more preferred functionality will increase the ease of use for the user and
thereby increase the user adoption of the E‐Procurement system. This assumption is not examined on
validity and is thereby a limitation of the research.
Secondly, the identification of functionalities in the B2C world has limitations: the sample of websites is
limited for the Dutch consumers as the list of websites was used from a Dutch website of the year
election. Also the identification of functionalities was conducted by the researcher based on the
definition which could have resulted in missing functionalities. Also the generalization of functionalities
could have resulted in misinterpretation of the functionality.
Thirdly, the survey results have several limitations: the differences between the Rabobank user group
and the social network group are large on gender and age. This could have biased the results.
Furthermore the interpretation of the users on the meaning of the general functionality could have
differed. This is partially also a result of the quantitative survey method chosen.
Fourthly, the most important functionalities transformed into B2B equivalents, which was done based
on discussions with E‐Commerce and E‐Procurement experts within the Rabobank. The transformation
57
is not further analyzed on completeness which could result in missing the important aspects of a single
functionality.
58
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7. Appendices
7.1 Appendix I Category (Dutch) Category (English) Nr. of Websites
in Category
1 Auto en vervoer Car and transportation 10
2 Carrière Carrere 12
3 Communities Communities 17
4 Dating Dating 10
5 E‐Commerce E‐Commerce 20
6 Entertainment Entertainment 14
7 Financiën Finance 16
8 Games Games 17
9 Goede doelen Charities 15
10 Internet en Telecom Telecommunication 16
11 Mens en Gezondheid Human and health 12
12 Nieuws en Informatie News and information 17
13 Onderwijs Education 16
14 Overheid Government 10
15 Sport Sport 12
16 TV & Radio Tv & Radio 18
17 Vergelijken Comparing 14
18 Vrije Tijd Spare time 18
19 Weer en verkeer Weather and traffic 10
20 Wonen Residence 12
21 Zoeken en vinden Search and find 17
Figure 4: Website Categories "Website of the Year 2009 election"
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7.2 Appendix II General online B2C functionalities identified
1 Blog of weblog (Het volgen van een logboek, bijv. een reisverslag)
2 Chatten met de klantenservice d.m.v. een Chat box
3 FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
4 Gasten boek (Hiermee kunt u een bericht achterlaten op de website)
5 Gepersonaliseerde websites op basis van gebruikers‐profielen (Bijv. Basis/Medium/Pro gebruiker)
6 Hyves en Facebook informatie delen (Hiermee kunt u informatie naar uw sociale netwerken sturen)
7 Informatie alerts (U wordt op de hoogte gehouden van de door u aangegeven onderwerpen)
8 Kalenders en prikborden (Voor het delen van groeps activiteiten)
9 Klant herkennings functionaliteiten (Hierdoor herkent de website u bij uw volgende bezoek)
10 Locatie zoekdiensten (Hiermee kunt u bijv. de winkels bij u in de buurt vinden)
11 Mobiele applicaties (Deze programma's kunt u installeren op uw telefoon)
12 Mobiele websites (Speciale versie van de website gemaakt voor telefoons)
13 Msn Share informatie deel mogelijkheden
14 Nieuwsbrieven (Deze kunt u lezen op de website zelf of ontvangen u via uw email)
15 Online spelletjes
16 Online tests (Carriere test, IQ test, Kennis quiz, etc)
17 Podcasts
18 RSS (Really Simple Syndication)
19 Site opmaak wijzigingsmogelijkheden (Hiermee kunt u zelf het uiterlijk van de website aanpassen)
20 Telefoneren met de klantenservice via de PC d.m.v. VoIP (Voice over IP)
21 Widgets (bijv. voor de Windows Vista sidebar of de iGoogle start pagina)
Figure 5: General Online B2C Website functionalities identified in empirical website analysis
Zhang step one online B2C functionalities identified
1 Product weergave in 3D
2 Alternatieve producten overzicht
3 Diverse lijsten (Beste verkocht, meest bekeken, binnenkort verwacht)
4 Eigen product ontwerpen (Bijv. een keuken of een huiskamer)
5 E‐mail ontvangen met aanbiedingen
6 Hoge kwaliteit product afbeeldingen
7 Inzien wensenlijsten of aankopen van andere consumenten
8 Mobiele barcode scanner (programma voor iPhone & Android om barcodes te scannen)
9 Overzicht bijbehorende accessoires
10 Persoonlijk product aanbeveling
11 Product advies wizard
12 Product wekkers (bijv. het ontvangen van een email zodra de prijs onder bepaald niveau zakt)
13 Uitgebreide zoek functies (bijv. op product eigenschappen)
14 Virtuele zoek assistent
Figure 6: Zhang step one Online B2C Website functionalities identified in empirical website analysis
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Zhang step two online B2C functionalities identified
1 Discussie forums over aanbieders
2 Product discussie forums (Hierop kunt u vragen stellen of antwoord geven op vragen)
3 Product feature vergelijking
4 Product personalisatie (aanpassen van bepaalde product eigenschappen, bijv. kleur)
5 Product previews (Bijv. het inzien van het eerste hoofdstuk van een boek)
6 Product recensies van andere consumenten
7 Product recensies van experts
8 Product statistieken (Bijv. prijsgrafiek, aantal keer verkocht, aantal keer bekeken, etc.)
9 Product verlanglijst of boodschappenlijst
10 Aanbieder betrouwbaarheids indicatie functie
11 Aanbieder lokaliseerfunctie (bijv. dichtstbijzijnde winkel om uw product af te halen)
12 Aanbieder spaaracties (Bijv. Online bonuspunten, kortingen, etc.)
13 Aanbieder voorraadinformatie
Figure 7: Zhang step two Online B2C Website functionalities identified in empirical website analysis
Zhang step three online B2C functionalities identified
1 Betaal‐ of creditcard voor leden
2 Betalen met acceptgiro
3 Betalen met creditcard
4 Betalen met iDeal
5 Betalen met Paypal
6 Betaling d.m.v. overmaking
7 Betalings cadeau of kortings bon
8 Betalings overzicht bekijken of ontvangen per e‐mail of sms
9 Beveiligde transactie
10 Klant account registratie voor snel bestel mogelijkheden
11 Levertijd indicatie
12 Order status overzicht per e‐mail of sms
13 Plaatsen van een bod mogelijkheid ipv. vaste prijs
14 SMS product tracking
15 Thuiswinkel waarborg keurlogo
16 Track and trace services
17 Winkel afhaal locatie routeplanner
18 Winkelwagen gebruiksgemak
Figure 8: Zhang step three Online B2C Website functionalities identified in empirical website analysis
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Zhang step four online B2C functionalities identified
1 Drivers and firmware update notifications
2 Help communities voor product vragen (Hierop kunt u terecht indien u vragen over uw product heeft)
3 Herinneringsservices (Bijv voor een contract beëindigings herinnering)
4 One to one service (Technische dienst die u direct verbindt met de klanteservice)
5 Online diensten beheer
6 Online factuur beheer
7 Online product logboek (Hiermee kunt u uw product onderhoud bijhouden)
8 Online product retourneer mogelijkheden
9 Online vragen, evaluatie of klachten formulier
10 Overzicht historische bestellingen
11 Product evaluatie of beoordelingsmogelijkheid
12 Troubleshooting guide (Overzicht van problemen en bijbehorende oplossingen)
Figure 9: Zhang step four Online B2C Website functionalities identified in empirical website analysis