Transaction- and Trust-Based Strategies in E-commerce - a Conceptual Approach

With the increasing importance of ecommerce (electronic commerce) for marketing and distributing consumer goods to end users, companies will have to face new challenges. Traditional retailers and manufacturers have to develop a corporate strategy to establish their presence on the Internet. Companies entering e-commerce have different prerequisites, assets and capabilities. Depending on their origin as a traditional ‘brick-and-mortar’ business or a new intermediary, they are likely to pursue different strategic approaches. At the Institute for Marketing and Retailing we therefore make a distinction between a transaction-based and a trust-based conceptual approach to e-