Access eCommerce Research Briefs 

Brief 24

Designing effective cyber store user interface

As the popularity of the internet and online retail stores increased, each online retail store needs to attract more people and try them to purchase products. In order to bring more people online stores, the e-retailers have to satisfy their customers. One of the factors of satisfying customers is interface design of the website. The authors talked about previous studies and one of the previous studies concluded that the growth of the Internet retail sales would depend, at least partially, on these interface design issues (243). In this study, the authors tested factors of website design that are important for customer satisfaction. The authors generated a questionnaire to measure the perceived satisfaction of online retail store shopping. Their sample was university students. The results of this study showed the four factors. The most significant factor is "convenient and dependable shopping". As the example of 'convenient and dependable shopping', there are convenient search functions, flexible shopping hours, guaranteed delivery, and secure transaction on the Internet. The second factor is "retailer reliability". Information on product warranty and usage, competitive price, and store policy should be included on the websites in order to increase retailer reliability. The third factor is "additional information availability". Having more information about the company, other customers' testimonials, and frequently asked questions sections is the third factor that can help to increase customer satisfaction. The last factor is named "tangibility and variety of merchandise". Because customers should rely on the picture and descriptions of the products, having a good quality picture of merchandise and broad product variety are important for customer satisfaction. In this article, the authors described more detail about the factors influencing online shoppers' perceived satisfaction among young generation. The authors also suggested eight strategies for online store management according to their findings (four factors). According to their suggestions, the online store websites should have features of convenience, easy to use, secure transaction process, protecting private information, allowing comparison shopping, useful FAQ, maintaining trust between a seller and a buyer, and downloadable in a reasonable amount of time. Online retail owners are able to learn what they need to have on their websites in order to satisfy their customers in this article.

Kim, E.B. & Eom, S.B. (2002). Designing effective cyber store user interface. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 102(5), 241-251.

Research Briefs are provided by students in DHA 8170 Topics in Design, Housing and Apparel: Global E-commerce. Dr. Seung-Eun Lee, University of Minnesota

---

Access eCommerce Research Briefs

• Brief 1: How businesses are using the Internet
  
• Brief 2: Small business Internet commerce issues
  
• Brief 3: Four-stage e-commerce development model
  
• Brief 4: Benefits small businesses can gain from opening shop on the Internet
  
• Brief 5: The Internet as an information solution
  
• Brief 6: Determinants of the locus of global e-commerce
  
• Brief 7: Are there any economic incentives to engage in electronic commerce, or is it just a fad?
  
• Brief 8: Digital development in rural areas: potentials and pitfalls
  
• Brief 9: Digital divide and purchase intention: Why demographic psychology matters.
  
• Brief 10: Ethical issues in electronic commerce
  
• Brief 11: One brand, three ways to shop.
  
• Brief 12: The nature of and conditions for online trust
  
• Brief 13: E-shopping in a multiple channel environment
  
• Brief 14: The E-Marketing Mix: A Contribution of the E-Tailing Wars
  
• Brief 15: Consumers shop to acquire items, and they shop for fun.
  
• Brief 16: How companies use content and design features in their website.
  
• Brief 17: Conceptualizing consumer experiences in cyberspace.
  
• Brief 18: Cross-cultural and cognitive aspects of web site navigation
  
• Brief 19: Managerial issues for international Web-based electronic commerce
  
• Brief 20: Cultural context in multilingual website usability
  
• Brief 21: Using corporate websites for export marketing
  
• Brief 22: The measurement of web-customer satisfaction
  
• Brief 23: Developing and validating trust measures for e-commerce
  
• Brief 24: Designing effective cyber store user interface