User Preference for Product Information in Remote Purchase Environments

While the appeal of shopping online is enormous, successful methods of attracting and keeping customers remain elusive. Product offerings, service, and price are important considerations in online shopping, and a useful and satisfying Web site is also a consideration for on-line success. This research investigates product presentation in remote purchase environments and whether to accommodate user preferences for information processing in that presentation. After simulating an on-line shopping experience, users were asked about their satisfaction with it. Results indicate that regardless of the individual information processing style, the sentential style Web site was preferred over the diagrammatic style of product presentation. However, a combination site including both pictures and text was preferred over the others. These results address a conflict between goals of fast download time and thorough product presentation. Pictures may represent confirmation of the verbal description and provides a holistic view of the product, which slightly increases satisfaction.