DIGITAL CONSUMER ENGAGEMENT IN ONLINE RETAIL: INSIGHTS FROM RIVERS STATE, NIGERIA

This study focused on the influence of electronic marketing on customer engagement of online retailers in Rivers State. A causal study was prepared to handle the two (2) hypotheses formulated for the study. The survey research method was adopted for the study on a population comprised 10 online retail firms in Rivers State. The simple sampling technique was used to draw three respondents each from the sampled companies as respondents for this study. A 5-point likert-scale questionnaire was administered to 30 respondents, of which 30(100%) were returned and useful for analysis. The study adopted descriptive statistics and simple regression and analysis of variance for data analysis. The spearman rank order was the test statistic, using SPSS22.0 for all statistical analysis. The results revealed that electronic marketing has a very strong, positive and significant influence on customer commitment and customer advocacy. The study therefore, concludes that, Electronic marketing significantly influence customer engagement of online retail companies in Rivers State. The study management of online retailers should, inter alia, initiate and implement effective electronic marketing in order to enhance on customer engagement of online retailers in Rivers State.