Keyword

E-Tail, Principal Component Analysis, E-Tail Readiness Index

Abstract

E-Tail, or Internet based retailing, has emerged as an innovative channel for retailers to reach target consumers in the comfort of their homes. E-Tailing has exhibited an upward trend across the world in recent years, though it’s more prevalent in certain regions such as Europe and North America. With varying levels of Internet penetration, telecom infrastructure, the business and legal environment, e-tailing is at varying stages of maturity in countries across the globe. In order to objectively compare the actual preparedness of various countries to exploit their potential for e-tail, an analytical model was built using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). This model returns a numeric value, coined as the e-Tail Readiness Index. A set of countries were subsequently ranked on the basis of this index. As expected, while the more developed countries of Europe and North America occupied the top slots, the emerging economies of Eastern Europe and Latin America occupied the middle slots. Surprisingly, India and China figured right at the bottom of the heap


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References
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