A Contrastive Study On Chinese And American Websites Design From Cross-cultural Perspective

The development of globalization has impelled companies to seek cross-border markets.And the widespread of internet promotes cross-cultural communication to a great extent.Influenced by these,websites have become important marketing tools for companies to publicize information and establish images.To achieve the marketing function,it is a key for companies to establish a loyal relationship with consumers from different backgrounds.And they are thereby required to identify the different cultural values of consumers and to understand the essential cause to these differences when designing websites,rather than merely translate from one language version into another.This research intends to explore the cultural difference lying behind the website design elements based on Hofstede's cultural dimensions.It is a fact that a great number of scholars both at home and from abroad have conducted studies in cross-cultural website design,and their studies have covered official websites of university,governments,tourism and so on.But research on website design of mom-baby industry from cross-cultural perspective has been seldom carried out,despite of its prosperous growth in recent years.This study has selected top 10 domestic mom-baby brands and 10 American brands which are popular in China as its research object.The study is guided by Hofstede's cultural dimension and Singh Nitish's Cultural Category Framework.It aims to explore the difference of American and Chinese mom-baby websites.And the reasons lying behind these differences are explained from cross-cultural perspective.The results of the research provide reference for designers and companies which are involved in cross-cultural website designs.The result reveals that striking cultural differences exist in Chinese and American mom-baby websites.The dominant cultural values manifested on Chinese mom-baby websites are collectivism(such as “family theme”),high power distance(such as “address from important figures”),femininity(such as “ emphsis on harmony with nature”),long-term orientation(such as “membership system”)and low uncertainty avoidance(such as many dynamic banners).By contrast,the dominant cultural values manifested on American mom-baby websites are individualism(such as “privacy statement”),low power distance(such as “ highligting the status of employees”),masculinity(such as“financial report”),and high uncertainty aviodance(such as “effective information structure”).The results of the research provide some significant implications for cross-cultural website design.It is of great importance to understand local culture when developing websites.And according to the research findings,some guidelines for Chinese and American consumers are put forward.For example,when designing websites for Chinese consumers,elements reflected “family theme” can be considered;and for American consumers,effective information structure can be developed.