From: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
Date published: | Date modified: 8/18/2008 12:13:37 PM
The health of any economy is linked to consumer confidence; where the Internet is concerned, that confidence has been hard won. Early challenges with transaction security, personal privacy and service reliability created a commercial environment in which online retailers had to be insightful, innovative and responsive to compete.
Paul Messinger knew from the outset that e-commerce was a potential goldmine for Canadian companies. As a professor with the University of Alberta School of Business, Messinger led a nationwide study of buying and selling practices on the Internet.
Under his guidance, a team of professors from the university’s business and computing science departments has gathered critical data about how customers are attracted to e-commerce websites, how they interact with those sites, how they prefer making orders online and what kinds of service experiences earn customers’ loyalty.
The result is a body of competitive intelligence that major Canadian retailers are already putting into action.
Paul Messinger, e-business, University of Alberta
