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Only Pricing Policy Matters

Discount Is the Only Determinant of Conversion Rate on Apparel e-Commerce Websites

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Governing Business Systems

Part of the book series: Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics ((SPBE))

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Abstract

This paper aims to determine which factors affect e-commerce conversion rate, which is the relationship between website visitors and purchasers.

Focusing on apparel e-commerce websites, this paper uses a fixed effect estimator on a perfectly balanced panel, finding that pricing policy is the only relevant factor and, specifically, that discount has a positive effect on conversion rate.

This finding contributes to advancing the theory of conversion rate management, shedding light on its determinants and providing a better understanding of online consumer behavior. This research is also extremely relevant for practitioners, providing managerial implications for retailers addressing their e-commerce strategy.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Data Source: https://fashionunited.com/

  2. 2.

    In the Kano Model for quality (1984), indifferent requirements (such as free returns) imply that this feature does not affect customer satisfaction. On the other hand, must-be requirements (such as webpage loading speed) do not increase customer satisfaction by their presence, but their absence produces a negative effect on user perceptions.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. SEAS Departmeant, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy

    Davide Di Fatta

  2. University of Messina, Messina, Italy

    Ivan Nania

Authors
  1. Davide Di Fatta
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  2. Ivan Nania
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Correspondence to Davide Di Fatta .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Professor of Management, University of Palermo and Business Systems Laboratory, Palermo and Avellino, Italy

    Gandolfo Dominici

  2. Professor of Management, University of Rome “Link Campus”, Naples, Italy

    Manlio Del Giudice

  3. Law and Economics of Productive Activities, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Rosa Lombardi

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Di Fatta, D., Nania, I. (2018). Only Pricing Policy Matters. In: Dominici, G., Del Giudice, M., Lombardi, R. (eds) Governing Business Systems. Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66036-3_10

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