| Summary: | 碩士 === 南台科技大學 === 企業管理系 === 100 === Thanks to globalization and the prevalence of the Internet, online auction sites have generated a purchasing pattern favored by many consumers. The low entry barrier and considerable market size led to more intensified competitions in the online auction business. After reviewing a lot of literature regarding customer loyalty, the author of this paper realized that customer satisfaction, the usual focus of studies in this field, actually has very limited influence on either customer loyalty or the intention to repurchase. Instead, many empirical studies of intention to repurchase listed switching cost as a major influential factor for the intention to repurchase. As a result, a company is able to make consumers think of switchover as a burden by raising the potential switching cost, prompting consumers to relinquish their intention to switch and eventually build a sustainable relationship with the company.
Based on empirical data about online apparel retailers, this study not only verifies the significance of factors that may influence the switching cost but also explores how switching cost affects, or is linked to, customer loyalty. With the aid of AMOS statistical software, a Structural Equation Model (SEM) was used to discuss and verify the data obtained from 511 respondents who had made purchases at online clothing stores. The findings indicate that switching cost is significantly affected by Internet Self-efficacy(ISE), heterogeneity of suppliers, the retailer’s range of service extensiveness, and consumer switchover experiences. Meanwhile, the switching cost, consisting of relationship-based, finance-based and procedure-based switching costs, exerts a significant influence on customer loyalty. Therefore, to bolster customer loyalty, companies are advised to make strategic element adjustments in the model accordingly.
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