128 International Journal of Electronic Business Management, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 128-136 (2009) APPLYING IMPORTANCE-PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS TO EVALUATE LOGISTICS SERVICE QUALITY FOR ONLINE SHOPPING AMONG RETAILING DELIVERY Yu-Kai Huang*, Yi-Wei Kuo and Shi-Wei Xu Institute of Publishing and Culture Enterprise Management Nanhua University Chiayi (622), Taiwan ABSTRACT In the logistics system of electronic commerce, the major difference between Taiwan and other countries is the retailing delivery (RD) system. Delivering consistently good service quality is difficult but profitable for logistics organizations. This paper explores the structure of logistic for RD service for electronic commerce. Drawing upon a sample of 135 users of retailing delivery and working within the framework of structural equation modeling (SEM), this study examines the relationships among the logistics service quality (LSQ), satisfaction and loyalty. Finally, this study used Importance-Performance analysis (IPA) to discuss the relations of level of customers expected logistics service quality and level of customers perceived logistics serviced quality, implications of these results for practice and research are provided. Keywords: Retailing Delivery, Electronic Commerce, Logistics Service Quality 1. INTRODUCTION * Delivering goods to customers is a critical activity in any business. Regarding the organization of e-commerce transaction and physical distribution (PD), it is extremely important to distinguish between customer-related activities, such as order receiving, sales and marketing, and the processing and shipment of the ordered goods 21. The B2C environment is unpredictable with dynamically changing customer orders. At the same time, reliable and timely delivery is one of the fundamental objectives for online shoppers. Online shoppers make their orders at their office or home anticipating quicker delivery than offline purchasing, and timely delivery at convenient times. Digital technology has provided a new paradigm of our society and changed our lives interaction with the Internet. Online shoppers make their orders at their office or home anticipating quicker delivery than offline purchasing, and timely delivery at convenient times. The quality of logistics service performance is an important key marketing component that helps create customer satisfaction 21. Both corporations and researcher are becoming increasingly aware of the strategic role of logistics service in a firms overall success. Anecdotal evidence from firm such as Dell and Federal Express suggest that logistics * Corresponding author: excellence has a significant impact on revenue and profitability. Logistics excellence has become a powerful source of competitive differentiation with divers marketing offerings of world-class firms 19. Based on the above-mentioned research background, the main purposes of the study are: (1) to explore the relationships among the logistics service quality (LSQ), satisfaction and loyalty within the framework of structural equation modeling, (2) using Importance-Performance Analysis to discuss the relations of level of customers expected logistics service quality and level of customers perceived logistics service quality. Finally, we discuss the findings from an academic and managerial perspective and provide directions for future research. 2. LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Logistics Service Quality Customer service has become a crucial measure of competitiveness in logistics markets throughout the world. There are many definitions and descriptions of how logistics customers satisfaction 12. On the past decade, there have been many studies published concerning the theoretical domain of service quality to a business-to-business context, specifically in the area of logistics service quality 8, 11, 14, 19, 20. Logistics can be considered as a service industry. The quality of logistics service performance is an important key marketing Y. K. Huang et al.: Applying Importance-performance Analysis to Evaluate Logistics Service Quality 129 component that helps create customer satisfaction 21. Logistics excellence has been recognized as an area in which firms can create competitive advantage, to successfully leverage logistics excellence as a competitive advantage to customers, logisticians must coordinate with marketing departments 9. However, there is a lack of research on the retailing delivery for the online B2C environment 2.2 Loyalty Customer loyalty is usually defined as a customers intention or actual behavior to repeatedly purchase certain products or services. Indeed, the costs of attracting a new customer have been found to be up to six times higher than the costs of retaining old ones 25. Customer loyalty, therefore, has been considered a significant asset to an enterprise. A critical issue for the continued success of a firm is its capability to retain its current customers and make them loyalty to its brands. Early views of loyalty focused o