Click, Buy, Repeat: Understanding the Success of B2C E-Commerce Platforms

B2C e-commerce platforms have transformed digital retail. This study investigates the factors behind their success and identifies research gaps for future inquiry. Adopting a theoretical review and inductive coding approach, it synthesizes findings from 187 academic publications to develop an explanatory framework. Three interrelated core themes emerged: platform capabilities, perceived trustworthiness/trust, and perceived enjoyment. The framework posits capabilities as foundational resources, trust as a mediator of engagement, and enjoyment as a behavioral driver and enabler of trust. Integrating resource-based, utilitarian, and hedonic perspectives, the model offers a basis for research on contextual influences, dynamic relationships, and constructs. For practitioners, the findings emphasize that enduring success depends not only on scale and efficiency, but on designing trusted and emotionally engaging user experiences that foster repeated use.