Organization of information and processes for electronic retailing: A study based on usability and consumer decision-making processes

This applied research was conducted to study how the perceived usability of an electronic retail store could be improved by the organization of information and processes. An inter-disciplinary approach was taken, and this involved the basic principles of why and how consumers shop (as addressed by consumer decision-making) and how people interact with computer interfaces (as addressed by usability). This approach was identified as one initiative to address the negative perception consumers have towards electronic retailing.; The experimental portion of this study was a usability test exercise covering seventy-one electronic stores and twenty-five different products. First, the products were categorized into eight product groups based on the nature of information required for consumer decision-making. Then, a usability task questionnaire was developed to measure the perceived usability construct in the form of usability scores. Following this, the usability test exercise was conducted, involving 334 test users.; The application of statistical methods on the data collected provided descriptive and inferential evidences to investigate the usability scores of the stores and the effects of different test user profiles on these scores. The concept of “relative usability” was introduced to compare the perceived usability between stores. The results showed that “the perceived usability of an electronic store is affected by its organization of information and processes.”; The analytical portion of the study used theories of consumer decision-making and retail management practices to analyze and explain these findings. It was found that “the perceived usability of an electronic store is explained by the compatibility of its organization of information and processes with theories of consumer decision-making.”; By analyzing the characteristics of each product group, this study suggested that it is possible to adopt common conceptual store designs for the different products within a product group. It was concluded that an understanding of consumer decision-making in the physical marketplace could effectively improve consumer perception of the usability of electronic stores through the systematic organization of information and processes. Therefore, this usability approach is an effective method to change the negative perception of consumers towards electronic retailing, and the recommendation was to extend this method to practice.