School of Information

The rise of online retailing in the last decade has had a profound effect on the shopping experience as a whole. Customer expectations have shifted with the introduction of new concepts and techniques that capitalize on the Internet infrastructure, leading traditional bricks and mortar retailers to rethink their service models in order to better compete with the rapidly-evolving online businesses. This paper attempts to outline the different possible service encounters in all of the physical, the virtual, and the click-and-mortar business models, emphasizing service quality through meeting customer expectations.