Exploring the effect of online shopping motivations on purchase intention applied

 

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2.2 The emergence of e-Commerce 
e-Commerce (standing for electronic commerce) can be defined as any commercial 
transaction made in electronic format and describes the way in which transactions are made 
over electronic networks, in its majority through internet. This includes all the processes of 
supplying, buying and selling products, services and information through electronic means 
(Etemad, 2004; Liu et al., 2013). The aim of e-commerce is to reduce costs, shorten the 
lifecycles of products and improving the quality of service with faster customer feedback 
(Kalakota et al., 1997). 
e-Commerce emerged during the 90’s, with the development of internet and the deregulation 
of the financial markets. The increasing competition, especially in the mortgage industry, led 
to the creation and emergence of ecommerce and electronic payment systems.
Internet is an almost perfect market as information and comparisons can be made 
instantaneously, from any part of the globe. This advantage for consumers results in fierce 
competition amongst suppliers and decreased brand loyalty (Kuttner, 1998). 
In 2016, global B2C e-commerce sales are expected to reach 1.92 trillion U.S. dollars 
(Statista, 2016) 
Cosmetics, an industry that grew from the ability of touching, smelling and trying before 
purchasing in stores, is now a fast pace growing segment of the e-commerce industry. 
Convenience, wider product selection and ability to share and access others opinions has put 
e-commerce as an attractive alternative to purchasing cosmetics in store. Considering the 
speed at which apparel and accessories (another touch and feel product category) sales 
increased and are now one of the biggest categories in e-commerce it is believed that the same 
will happen with cosmetics (A.T.Kearney, 2014). 
e-Commerce is now responsible for the majority of the growth in sales for many retailers, 
specially mature and traditional retailers. On the other hand, for companies’ which sales in the 
physical store have declined during the crisis, e-commerce has helped rising the stabilizing 
the sales again. From the top 50 largest e-retailers, the large majority (39 companies) are 
omnichannel having a brick-a-mortar store and an online platform (Deloitte, 2016). 

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