Delivering Quality in Last Mile Delivery for Social Commerce: Implications for Retaining Customers and Spreading Word of Mouth of Facebook Entrepreneurial Brands by Women Entrepreneurs

Rafatul Haque Rishad; Fariha Nur Shoumee

Authors

Rafatul Haque Rishad Department of Business Administration, Atish Dipankar University of Science and Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Fariha Nur Shoumee Department of Business Administration, Atish Dipankar University of Science and Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Keywords:

Last mile delivery quality, customer retention, word of mouth, female entrepreneurship, Facebook commerce, social commerce, customer satisfaction, Bangladesh

Abstract

Women entrepreneurs are increasingly participating in informal digital marketplaces, the role of logistics performance, and more specifically the quality of last mile delivery in customer loyalty is largely under explored in emerging markets. This paper aims to explore how last mile delivery quality influences on customer retention and positive word-of-mouth through customer satisfaction as a mediator for female entrepreneurs' Facebook brand in Bangladesh. This study has used quantitative approach with cross sectional survey design and the respondents were 384 female customers who visited the women managed Facebook businesses within 3 months. Using covariance-based structural equation modeling with bootstrapping, adapted multi-items scales were used to measure the constructs and the proposed research model that involves direct and mediated pathways were tested. With regard to the latter, the results also show that the quality of the last-mile delivery has a strong positive impact on customer satisfaction (β = 0.61, p < 0.001). Customer satisfaction, in turn, has a strong impact on customer retention (β = 0.47) and word of mouth (β = 0.53). The direct effects of delivery quality on retention and WOM are still very strong, thus supporting the partial mediation. The model accounts for 37%, 51%, and 46% of the variance in satisfaction, retention, and word of mouth, respectively. This research is the first in this area to give evidence of the effect of the quality of last mile logistics services on customer loyalty outcomes in a women dominated social commerce environment in a developing economy. The results have shown that service-dominant capabilities of logistics, even for an informal brand on Facebook, are a valuable relational asset, and provide useful lessons for micro-entrepreneurs, platform designers, and last mile delivery partners.