FACEBOOK PAGES VS WEBSITES: A DILEMMA FOR E-COMMERCE INDUSTRY OF BANGLADESH

Abstract

This paper investigates the nature of dilemma which occurs for E-commerce merchants and consumers between Facebook page and responsive website. The authors have applied empirical evidences and analyzed qualitatively to find out how many merchants are operating their business with Facebook or websites or both, and how they are doing over the years. Then they have conducted qualitative approach such as interviews, observations and literature reviews to explore KPI of E-commerce industries and the reasons for this dilemma and how it affects the business followed by some recommendations to overcome those predicaments. The authors conducted an online survey involving a sample of 258 e-commerce merchants' and 130 e-commerce consumers' responses were used to gather data. This study aims to determine industry variables, analyze best industry practices, proposed a module designed by meticulous studies and fieldwork survey. Current research is a comparative study between expected and accurate results. It includes the investigation of E-commerce merchants on their investment attitudes toward the use of Facebook and website as their primary tool for sales and business operations. This paper also includes shopping experience of e-commerce consumers on Facebook and online stores. Random sampling was used for surveys, and MS Excel software was used to analyze data, including SPSS. The study shows that fundamental reason of this dilemma is not having some basic complementary and contemporary technical and business knowledge. They mostly didn't know how to create a responsive landing page within their budget and how to manage it by themselves. The authors have included a porter's 5 force model to identify the critical forces causing disruption in the business. The results suggest merchants to start their business with launching an operational shopping website to add more value to the business.