An analysis of e-tailing opportunities in the South African sports business industry

Abstract

The study investigated the opinions expressed by consumers in an e-tailing environment in the sports business industry. Certain influencing factors were identified through a literature study of consumer behaviour and decision-making of these consumers. This was done in an attempt to understand the e-tailing consumer better to improve online marketing campaigns within the sports business e-tailing environment of South Africa. The primary data were collected using a convenience sampling strategy. Respondents were asked to complete an online questionnaire published using a link. The questionnaire consisted of 4 sections with a total of 42 questions. 163 participated in the survey and 157 fully completed it. The initial analysis proved that the data was adequate and sufficient to conduct a factor analysis where it was decided to use confirmatory factor analysis. A new framework to measure the factors that influence e-tailing adoption in the South African sports business industry was established. 5 out of 9 factors were found to contain sub-groups of influence, which suggests that, certain questions related to those factors needed to be improved or rephrased to measure the single factor more accurately. The reliabilities of all the identified influential factors were measured using Cronbach's alpha coefficient and extracted satisfactory coefficients. Website Features, Service Quality, and Website Functionality were regarded as the most influential factors related to e-tailing adoption. Trust and Security were recognised as a concern among respondents, indicating that they are not comfortable providing personal as well as credit card information.