376 Int. J. Information Technology and Management, Vol. 16, No. 4, 2017 Copyright © 2017 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Antecedents for success of e-commerce platforms: an investigative approach Asif Ali*, Gowhar Rasool and Anjali Pathania Department of HRM and OB, Central University of Jammu, Jammu, India Email: easif.101@gmail.com Email: gowhar2@gmail.com Email: anjalipathania88@gmail.com *Corresponding author Abstract: A plethora of literature is available highlighting the critical success factors (CSFs) of information systems (IS). While most of the studies were elusive in determining CSFs, the research of DeLone and McLean (1992) proposed an IS success model which is most comprehensive and widely applied model in various research studies carried out in this context. The model was later updated to incorporate parsimony by DeLone and McLean (2003). The updated model is based on six success factors, i.e., system quality, information, service quality use, user satisfaction and net benefits. This paper attempts to examine the role of each critical success factors as suggested by DeLone and McLean (2003) towards the success of e-commerce platforms and how it can be leveraged for enhancing customer value by laying strong foundation on most vital factor. DeLone and McLean (2003) model was applied to make a comparison between Flipkart and Snapdeal which are two dominant players of e-commerce in India, so as to investigate the antecedents for the success of e-commerce platforms. Keywords: information systems; e-commerce platforms; user experiences; critical success factors. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Ali, A., Rasool, G. and Pathania, A. (2017) ‘Antecedents for success of e-commerce platforms: an investigative approach’, Int. J. Information Technology and Management, Vol. 16, No. 4, pp.376–390. Biographical notes: Asif Ali is an Assistant Professor in School of Business Studies at Central University of Jammu, Jammu, India. He did his MBA from University of Kashmir and is a Junior Associate from Indian Institute of Banking and Finance. He has about three years of corporate and one and a half years of teaching experience. His research interests are in the area of finance, organisational behaviour and e-commerce. Gowhar Rasool is an Assistant Professor in School of Business Studies at Central University of Jammu, Jammu, India. He did his MBA in the area of HR and has also done international business from UNCC, USA. He has about one year of corporate and two years of teaching experience. His research interests are in the area of quantitative research methods, human resource management and financial inclusion.