A Study on the Impact Dimensions of Customer Experience on Cross‑border E‑commerce Platforms from the Perspective of E‑Commerce Politeness: The Case of Apparel

Abstract

This study focuses on users’ e-commerce politeness experience in the apparel category on the cross-border e-commerce platform DHgate. E-commerce politeness differs from interpersonal politeness; it specifically refers to users’ overall experiential perceptions across the various stages of platform interaction. The study employed the Critical Incident Technique to collect 490 user reviews for DHgate’s apparel category (251 satisfied incidents and 239 dissatisfied incidents), and used categorical analysis to identify the core dimensions affecting users’ e-commerce politeness experience. The results indicate that product quality is the most critical dimension influencing users’ e-commerce politeness experience, followed by logistics service; description consistency ranks third in dissatisfied incidents and is a key cause of negative user experiences. Although customer service, cost-performance ratio, and claims mechanism rank lower, they remain integral components of users’ e-commerce politeness experience. Based on these findings, the study offers recommendations at the platform, seller, and consumer levels to inform improvements in the user experience of cross-border apparel e-commerce.