Search

Abstract The purpose of this research is to investigate and prioritize factors affecting the success of e-commerce in small and medium-sized companies in Mazandaran province. The current research is applicable in terms of purpose, and descriptive-analytical in terms of nature and method. The statistical population of this research includes 15 experts with master's degree or higher, and at least 10 years of work experience in the relevant field and managers, and experts of small and medium companies in Mazandaran. Fuzzy Delphi method was used for review and prioritization. The best-worst method (BWM) was used to prioritize the factors and its components, and Lingo software was used for analysis. Effective factors include the components of 1- infrastructure (access to the Internet network, electronic storage of information, security systems and electronic payments), 2- payment system (payment authorization, various customer payment methods, settlement operations), 3- Knowledge and awareness (customer notification system, customer privacy consideration, company's response to customers' frequent questions), 4- Customer satisfaction (variety of products and advertisements, company's seasonal auctions, timely delivery of goods, building trust). The results show that the prioritization of factors affecting the success of e-commerce, respectively, payment system, infrastructure, customer satisfaction, and knowledge and awareness gained the first to fourth rank of importance. Extended Abstract Introduction The emergence of the Internet has made it easier for newcomers to enter, and as a result, the number of competitors in various markets has increased. Advances in information and communication technology and the rapid expansion of the Internet have undergone many changes and transformations in various areas of human life, as well as in various business fields. Changes in the business environment are the main characteristics of this century (Taghavi fard & Abdoli Masinan, 2020). New technologies have transformed the way of providing customer service in today's organizations (Sanyayan & Sanyaei, 2016). The digitization of businesses has changed many traditional businesses to electronic businesses, and this issue shows the growth of e-commerce transactions in the world, and the new systems that are recently used in e-commerce by governments and private companies are among the most effective factors for success in electronic commerce (Singh et al, 2017). In e-commerce, the conventional meaning of economic benefits largely refers to customer retention on e-commerce platforms, discounts, advertizements, or other preferred activities (Liu et al, 2019). To measure success in e-commerce, it can be seen in customer satisfaction when searching for the desired product and buying online (Abdallah & Jaleel, 2015). Despite its advantages, e-commerce also faces challenges because changing people's habits is not an easy task. For example, researchers in e-commerce have mentioned the skills and techniques of gaining customer trust as an essential factor (Murphy & Tocher, 2011). Small and medium enterprises are a large part of industrial economies. Their growth and development is very important and many researches have been started to determine electronic business in small and medium companies. It is thought that the success of e-commerce in the small and medium sector will make the country more competitive, and this successful adoption and use of e-commerce technology is vital for survival. Therefore, the researcher is trying to answer the question: what is the evaluation and priority of factors affecting the success of e-commerce in small and medium enterprises of Mazandaran province? Theoretical Framework E-commerce success E-commerce is the use of computers in one or more networks to create and transmit commercial information, which is mostly related to buying and selling information, goods and services through the Internet. On the other hand, e-commerce has certain advantages over traditional business; e-commerce changes the way business is conducted and thus transforms traditional markets into new forms and creates significant changes in competitive conditions (Ebrahim Shamirani, 2015). Customer satisfaction Satisfaction is wider than quality, and quality is considered one of the factors of creating satisfaction in customers. Satisfaction means the evaluation of customers about the product or service provided to whether it was able to meet the expectations of customers or not. In fact, customer satisfaction is the result of satisfying customer needs (Ahmadi et al, 2015). Agheshlouei et al, (2023) investigated the presentation of a new business model to help entrepreneurs develop new businesses and e-commerce startups. The results of the research show that, in addition to improving the business model of Strowalder and Pignor, the business model presented in this study leads to a better understanding of the elements of the business model by entrepreneurs, and improves investment negotiations by creating convergence and common understanding of business concepts between entrepreneurs and investors. Using this business model, entrepreneurs focus on the value proposition in addition to the technical details. Atimehr et al, (2022) in an article entitled Development of the antecedent model of e-commerce success using structural equations and (IPMA) method, showed that among the explanatory variables of e-commerce success, the variable of electronic oralization has the most relative importance; while the customer support system variable has the least relative importance. Also, from the point of view of the respondents, it was found that the electronic satisfaction variable has the highest performance coefficient, while the customer support system variable has the lowest performance coefficient. Research methodology The current research is applicable in terms of purpose, and descriptive-analytical in terms of nature and method. The statistical population of this research includes 15 experts with master's degree or higher, with at least 10 years of work experience in the relevant field, and managers and experts of small and medium companies in Mazandaran. Fuzzy Delphi method was used for review and prioritization. Research findings In order to prioritize the factors and its components, the best-worst method (BWM) was used, and Lingo software was used for analysis. Effective factors include 1- infrastructure components (access to the Internet, electronic information storage, security systems and electronic payments), 2- Payment system (payment authorization, various customer payment methods, account settlement operations), 3- Knowledge and awareness (customer notification system, customer privacy consideration, company's response to customers' frequent questions), 4- Customer satisfaction (variety of products and advertisements, Company's seasonal auctions, timely delivery of goods, building trust). The results show that the prioritization of factors affecting the success of e-commerce, respectively, payment system, infrastructure, customer satisfaction, and knowledge and awareness gained the first to fourth rate of importance. Conclusion The current research was conducted with the aim of investigating and prioritizing factors affecting the success of e-commerce in small and medium-sized companies in Mazandaran province. The results of this research are in agreement with the results of Agheshlouei et al, (2023), Atimehr et al, (2022), Lobel Trong Thuy (2021), Emami Meibodi (2021), Jalali (2021), Himanshu & Aggarwal (2019), and Choshin & Ghaffari (2017). Agheshlouei et al, (2023) showed that, in addition to improving the business model of Sturwalder and Pignor, the presented business model gives entrepreneurs a better understanding of the elements of the business model and improves investment negotiations by creating convergence and a common understanding of business concepts between entrepreneurs and investors. Using this business model, entrepreneurs focus on the value proposition in addition to the technical details. According to the present research, the following suggestions are presented: Employees should be trained to use internet networks better Creation of documents management and databases for electronic storage and security of information Appropriate pricing according to competitors' prices and establishing cost management Investment and innovation in the use of e-commerce in small and medium enterprises Collecting customer information considering their privacy for their satisfaction Dealing with customer criticisms and analyzing them Evaluating the use of e-commerce

The purpose of this research is to present a qualitative model of the use of social media influencers in the behavior of consumers in the luxury cosmetics industry. According to its purpose, the research method is practical, and in terms of implementation, it is qualitative, based on the foundation's data method. The statistical population of the research includes 15 managers of advertising companies with at least 5 years of work experience, managers of online stores in social media and university professors in the field of marketing management who had research. The sample size was conducted with the logic of theoretical sampling and judgmental method and through semi-structured interviews of experts in the field of advertising, and the interviews continued until reaching theoretical saturation. A semi-structured interview was used to collect information. MAXQDA software was used to code the data. The results showed that social media marketing had a total of 11 factors and 93 components extracted and identified. Identified factors include: causal conditions (changes in the way of marketing, technological changes, people's biological changes), central phenomenon (the process of using social media influencers), background and background factors (characteristics of social media influencers, brands), intervening factor (government factors, social insight from social media), strategic factor (using different marketing strategies, measuring influencers' advertising success), consequence (advertising effectiveness). Extended Abstract Introduction Recently, social media channels that have visual content, simple search and quick response have become increasingly popular (Masuda et al, 2022). The amount of time people spend on social media channels has also increased significantly (Arora et al, 2019). The reduction of advertisements in traditional media has led to the growth of social media strategies such as marketing with influential people (Bhaumik & Meng, 2022). In fact, the goal of marketing through influential people is to find a suitable person who can be a good ambassador for introducing the brand and his audience will become potential customers of the respective brand (Kim & Kim, 2022). Influential marketing is a type of marketing in which direct communication is not established with the audience and messages are not sent directly to the audience (Zedan & Salem, 2016). Instead, companies choose the key people of the audience community and convey their messages to the audience through them (Zhang & Huang, 2022). Marketing through influential people can also market diverse products and services, which affects the credibility gained over time (Farivar & Wang, 2022). Luxury goods are part of a new social protocol in which one's identity and self-esteem are determined by visible brands (Cho et al, 2022). Luxury is defined as the highest level of authentic brands including several physical and psychological values. The fundamental motives for acquiring luxury brands are related to interpersonal aspects as well as hedonic factors (Wiedmann, Hennigs & Siebels, 2009). Competition in luxury brands is increasing day by day in the current market (Botonaki et al, 2016). In this competitive scene, luxury brands must understand the attitudes and values ​​of their customers in order to survive, because customers are looking for values ​​beyond ordinary products when consuming luxury goods (Lou et al, 2022). Based on this, the current research is looking for an answer to this question: What is the qualitative pattern of using social media influencers in the behavior of consumers in the luxury cosmetics industry? Theoretical framework Social media These days, when we talk about social media on the Internet, we are actually talking about a virtual and intangible type of human communication network (Nekmahmud et al, 2022). Social media has attracted billions of active users and accumulated masses of users that are increasing exponentially (Gutierrez et al, 2023). Online social media sites usually include a set of user accounts where registered members can post information that they want to share with others (Khodayari et al, 2021). Users are generally involved with two concepts of creating new content or content created by others (Chegini, 2021). Advertising through influencers Today, based on the attraction marketing methodology, what is important for marketing managers is to convert the visitor into a customer, then into a loyal customer, and finally into a promoter (Sajadi et al, 2015). To achieve this goal, various techniques are used, of which marketing through influential people or influencer marketing is one of them (Shekarchi & Valikhani, 2021). In fact, influence marketing is a branch of marketing that focuses on the potential of influential and famous people to direct the brand message to a larger market (Chan et al, 2023). Ren et al, (2023) investigated the effectiveness of endorsement by different social media influencers: the moderating effect of brand competence and warmth. The researchers' findings show that endorsements from influencers who take on an entertaining role attract more engagement (in terms of views, likes, and comments) than endorsements from influencers who are informative. Yeik et al, (2022) have conducted a study under the title of effective social media marketing: the moderating role of materialism. The results show that the trustworthiness and expertise of social media influencers are important predictors for the purchase intention of followers. Furthermore, the moderating effect of materialism on the relationship between attractiveness and purchase intention is significant. It is noteworthy that the effect of attractiveness on purchase intention is greater when materialism is high. Research methodology According to its purpose, the research method is applicable, and qualitative in terms of implementation, with an exploratory nature. The data theory of the foundation was used in this research. The statistical population of the research consists of 20 specialists, experts and knowledgeables in the field of social media marketing, and university professors; and sampling was done using the logic of theoretical sampling and judgmental method, with a total of 15 people were interviewed, and theoretical saturation was achieved from the 14th interview onwards. Research findings The research data were analyzed in three main stages: open coding, central coding and selective coding. MAXQDA software was used for analysis. The results showed that social media marketing had a total of 11 factors and 93 components; extracted and identified. Identified factors include: causal conditions (changes in the way of marketing, technological changes, people's biological changes), central phenomenon (the process of using social media influencers), underlying and background factors (characteristics of social media influencers, brand characteristics), the intervening factor (government factors, social insight from social media), the strategic factor (use of different marketing strategies, measuring the success of influencers' advertisements), the consequence (advertising effectiveness). Conclusion The purpose of this research is to present a qualitative model of the use of social media influencers in the behavior of consumers in the luxury cosmetics industry. The results of this research are consistent with the results of Shekarchi & Valikhani (2021), Naghash et al, (2021), Kim & Kim (2022), Tahirah et al, (2020), Venus et al, (2019), Arora et al, (2019) Shoja et al, (2022), Khodayari et al, (2021), Arora et al, (2019). The model strategies of using social media influencers in the behavior of consumers of the luxury cosmetics industry include the use of different marketing strategies and measuring the success of influencers' advertisements. Businesses without a proper strategy for marketing through social media may publish posts on social media without a specific goal and just to complete the assignment, without knowing what goals they are pursuing or who the target audience is. With this method, no results will be obtained from social media marketing. For this reason, they must determine a specific strategy for the progress of the work. Social media is always evolving with the emergence of new platforms and the addition of different features to the platforms. Marketing in social media, like any profession, expertise or strategy, has its own advantages that make people who are looking to create or develop their business enter this field. According to the results obtained from the research, it is suggested: 1) Increasing the skills of managers and employees of the brand marketing unit, increasing the experience and knowledge of managers and employees of the marketing unit, paying attention to the policy, and type of management of brand managers. 2) Production of products in line with customer interests. 3) Polite treatment of influencers in social media, use of correct words and observance of social etiquette in providing valuable content for customers. 4) Serious attention of Influencers to the originality of the content and non-copying and imitating the content created by others, as well as transparency and non-hiddenness during advertising.