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A fundamental internet marketing challenge is that consumers can quickly move from seeks to one web site to another if they cannot easily find what they want on a given web site. This paper address the web site navigational design issues associated with internet marketing.

A two‐year participant observation study in a UK tourism marketing organisation is provided in order to demonstrate a web site design approach in action.

Existing web site design approaches such as hierarchy charts and storyboards can assist in structuring web site content but do not necessarily cater well for making web sites straightforward to use by consumers. Human computer interface web site design approaches typically relate more to style, appearance and functionality than to structuring web site content. Web site content ranking and grouping can allow straightforward access to web site content, by making frequently required content the most accessible and by grouping related content for ease of identification. From a web site marketing perspective, the more accessible web site content relating to products and services offered, the more likely that such products and services will be purchased by the consumer.

If consumers are to use a web site and use it again in the future they need to be able to find what they require in a straightforward manner. Ranking web site content to present frequently required content earlier in the web site, and grouping web site content so that similar content appears on the same web page or on closely linked web pages can make a web site more straightforward to navigate. In a marketing context, the more accessible a web site, the more likelihood there is of repeat business from the consumer.

The originality of the research reported in this paper concerns the use of web site content ranking and grouping to design web sites that can enable straightforward access to information and transactions by consumers, and thus potentially increase both current sales and future repeat business.

The purpose of this paper is to find a better B2C environment through collecting what information and supporting interfaces are provided on current B2C web sites. We build a checklist based on the framework of B2C consumer behavior model and used it to evaluate current B2C web sites among three categories: purchasing process, types of products, and the source of web sites. The results indicated that poor information or supporting interface design was provided on web sites during the “evaluating and comparing” process. More information or supporting interface design was provided on the internet bookstore, less information or supporting interface design was provided on web sites that sell tickets and flowers. The local web sites provided more information or supporting interface design than international web sites. The results also showed that the difference is highly significant.

This paper takes a social shaping of technology approach to identify and explain sources of conflict in the design or enhancement of corporate Web sites. Data from a multi‐case field study show how Web site classification schemes embedded in Web site design elements created intra‐organizational conflicts because the schemes could not equally accommodate different sub‐units' customer requirements. Interview data demonstrate Web managers' perceptions that Web classification schemes privileged certain sets of customer needs, and Web managers' actions to shape the design of classification schemes to satisfy their perceived customer needs. Data analysis identified three design elements of Web sites associated with sub‐unit conflict: classification categories, templates and tool bars, and database entities and attributes.

The purpose of this paper is to examine a comprehensive model explaining how web site design influences consumer's emotional and cognitive responses and contributes to satisfaction and word‐of‐mouth (WOM) communication in an online shopping context.

A total of 804 female college students completed an online survey after browsing one of two mock web sites developed to manipulate web site design quality.

Web site design quality showed positive direct effects on pleasure, arousal, and perceived information quality and indirect effects on satisfaction and WOM intention. Pleasant shopping experience increased positive perceptions and satisfaction. The results also showed that satisfaction mediated the relationship between emotional and cognitive responses and positive WOM intention.

Although an online survey was used to increase the reality of an online shopping experience, uncontrolled conditions may have influenced the results of the study. Further research needs to be conducted in a laboratory setting to control these factors.

The paper theoretically extends the applicability of the stimulus‐organism‐response paradigm to satisfaction and electronic WOM intention research and fills the gap in the current online shopping literature. The paper also offers valuable information to online retailers to maximize consumer satisfaction and generate positive WOM using web site design.

This study proposes a new approach to an adaptive web site design using the cognitive map (CM).

The responses from 134 questionnaires were used in order to compute the causality coefficients of the CM objectively. In addition, using the evaluations of 64 college students with regard to three typical web sites, reference criteria were built that could be used by web site designers to determine the best web site design, given constraints and requirements. On the basis of the CM and two scenarios, a web site design simulation was performed.

The results showed that the proposed approach could be used effectively to analyze web site design in an adaptive and practical manner when the market situation is constantly changing.

The implications of this article will help decision makers predict the chain of effects that could result from changes in part of the web site design factors, before actually making those changes to a web site. Also, since the CM permits all related web site design factors to be viewed in a single interrelated diagram and organized into an adjacency matrix, decision makers can perform a number of what‐if simulations in accordance with changes in the intended design factors to see whether such changes would lead to maximal objectives (or target nodes).

Internet is set to be one of the main channels of distribution in the future and already greatly facilitates product evaluation thanks to the information available on the net. The main advantages of electronic shopping over other channels include the reduced costs of searching for products and for product‐related information. Research has stressed the importance of quality information in web site design. The perceived utility of a web site depends on the perceived utility of its content (i.e. quality of information on product characteristics) and its presentation of that content. This paper compares the ways in which a web site's content and content presentation affect the product choice of two consumer groups from different cultures. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The authors conduct an exploratory study to determine the key factors which may be used in a later conclusive research. The authors propose a tool based on the statistical design of experiments to determine the number of significant factors used by two market segments (Spanish and US students) when selecting a bottle of wine sold via a web site.

The authors identify key extrinsic factors of consumers' perceived utility when selecting a bottle of wine from a web site and analyse whether cross‐cultural aspects are significant in this choice. The authors assume that web site evaluations made by users from different geographical areas reflect their preferences for more familiar designs.

The sample size does not enable us to determine the significance of certain variables. Moreover, the sample is not fully representative of the overall consumer population, and so inferences cannot be made about all consumers. However, since the study is exploratory with a theoretical content, the results can be considered valid.

Web page designers need to take into account the cultural characteristics of their target market in the presentation and content of their sites.

The internet marketing literature considers cultural differences in web design as a tool to improve user confidence and attitude. However, few studies have examined the effects of the cultural adaptation of web sites on user evaluations. Here, the authors propose a straightforward procedure for calculating the main effects of web site attributes. Yates' algorithm and the normal probability plot, proposed by Daniel, can be implemented in any spread sheet.

With the rapid expansion of global online markets including India, researchers and practitioners are challenged to understand drivers of customer satisfaction, trust and loyalty towards web sites. The paper aims to focus on web site design, which is expected to influence whether customers revisit an online vendor.

Participants in India evaluated a local and foreign web site of the same online vendor. Surveys and interviews were used to collect the data.

The results indicate significant preference for the local web site in almost all design categories. Further, the local site instilled greater trust, satisfaction and loyalty. Data collected for this study are compared with parallel work conducted using the same procedures in four other countries.

The current investigation is relevant for researchers who aim to expand knowledge concerning the impact of web site design related to user trust, satisfaction and loyalty. The work also has implications for web designers or managers who seek to enhance the market attraction and retention of online web sites. Limitations of the study are that both the local and foreign web sites used were Samsung web sites and that only a single task (searching for a cell phone) was used.

Few studies have examined web design in relation to user outcomes such as trust, satisfaction and loyalty in international markets.

This paper reports on Phase II of a two‐part project to identify and implement user‐based design criteria in World Wide Web sites. The test site is a Web page for the academic business community. As an alternative to existing, largely ad hoc design processes, the authors developed a user‐based design process, gathering user input at three different times in the process. Delineating this four‐stage process (information‐gathering; development; test and evaluation; and implementation) is a major focus of the paper. In addition to explaining the process in detail, the paper reports on the second stage of this process, which involves operationalizing definitions of the criteria and translating the criteria into Web page features and, to some extent, on the evaluation activities undertaken during Stage 3. Already reported are the results of Stage 1, which gathered user criteria for evaluating Web sites through a focus group session.

The purpose of this paper is to compare organizational web site design attributes between US and Chinese small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The study uses 18 web site design variables identified by previous research.

The results show that US and Chinese SME corporate web sites have both similarities and differences in terms of web site design attributes. The design differences are not much affected by the impacts of macro-economy and technology gaps. However, US and Chinese SMEs may differ in terms of their marketing practices and cultural orientations, and as a result, web site design attributes still remain significantly different.

Marketing and cultural factors are found to be important determinants in SMEs’ organizational web site design across the two countries.

The purpose of this paper is to explore both accessibility and usability and examine the inhibitors and methods to evaluate site accessibility. Design techniques which improve end‐user access and site interactivity, demonstrated by practical examples, are also studied.

Assesses various web sites for accessibility and usability.

Criteria are determined by which to assess accessibility and usability of web sites.

Disability is an important consideration in the development of contemporary web sites. By understanding the needs of all users, not only those with disabilities, organisations may begin the process of advancing both accessibility and usability and integrating these elements into their web development strategies.