The digitization of business: The effect of e-commerce strategies on revenue growth in retail companies.

摘要

E-commerce is relevant to business strategy as technology advances and consumers integrate it into their daily lives. Companies vary in their performance based on their e-commerce strategies, but the strategy alone is not a predictor of future performance. The literature is rich with differing opinions and measures of information technology investments and their performance, but there is a gap in the literature regarding the analysis of the financial performance of e-commerce strategies. This research contributes to the literature by exploring the extent to which an e-commerce strategy can affect financial performance as measured by annual revenue and net income growth. The financial performance of S&P 500 retail companies was analyzed, as measured by annual revenue and net income growth, after being classified into three categories: Pure Online Retail Companies (PORCs), Pure Physical Location Retail Companies (PPLRCs), and Mixed Retail Companies (MRCs). The results indicated that there are statistically significant differences in the above measured financial performance for some of the years analyzed (2008--2012). Firms that chose a mixed strategy (MRC) reported less volatile results than those with a pure strategy (PORC and PPLRC), PPLRCs had the best net income growth, and PORCs had the best gross revenue growth.