The Effect of Visual and Verbal Information on Attitudes and Purchase Intentions in Internet Shopping
The Effects of Visual and Verbal Information on Attitudes and Purchase Intentions in Internet Shopping
Minjeong Kim, Ph.D.
Oregon State University
Sharron Lennon, Ph.D.
University of Delaware
ABSTRACT
The present study investigated how different product presentation formats (visual vs. verbal) influence consumer attitudes toward product and purchase intentions in Internet shopping. The overall results from two Web experiments simulating Internet apparel shopping showed that both visual and verbal information had significant effects on affective and cognitive attitudes toward apparel products, but only verbal information had a significant effect on purchase intention. Though the superiority of visual information was predicted based on prior literature, the results of the study supported verbal superiority. This finding provides an important implication for Internet retailers who tend to pay more attention to visual product presentation. Although visual product presentation is also found to be important, detailed product descriptions are critical to positively influence consumer shopping experience in Internet shopping. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The Internet is changing almost every aspect of our daily lives, from how we communicate, learn, and play, to how we shop, buy, and consume products and services (Dertrouzos, 1997). Evolving from a new communication
Psychology & Marketing, Vol. 25(2): 146–178 (February 2008) Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. DOI: 10.1002/mar.20204
medium into an innovative retailing medium, the Internet is changing the world of retailing (Klein, 1998). As the fastest growing retail channel, the growth of Internet retail sales nearly tripled that of total retail sales in 2004 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2004). Although Internet retail sales remained only 5% of total retail sales in 2005 (DMNews, 2006), its future growth is optimistic. According to Forrester
Minjeong Kim, Ph.D.
Oregon State University
Sharron Lennon, Ph.D.
University of Delaware
ABSTRACT
The present study investigated how different product presentation formats (visual vs. verbal) influence consumer attitudes toward product and purchase intentions in Internet shopping. The overall results from two Web experiments simulating Internet apparel shopping showed that both visual and verbal information had significant effects on affective and cognitive attitudes toward apparel products, but only verbal information had a significant effect on purchase intention. Though the superiority of visual information was predicted based on prior literature, the results of the study supported verbal superiority. This finding provides an important implication for Internet retailers who tend to pay more attention to visual product presentation. Although visual product presentation is also found to be important, detailed product descriptions are critical to positively influence consumer shopping experience in Internet shopping. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The Internet is changing almost every aspect of our daily lives, from how we communicate, learn, and play, to how we shop, buy, and consume products and services (Dertrouzos, 1997). Evolving from a new communication
Psychology & Marketing, Vol. 25(2): 146–178 (February 2008) Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. DOI: 10.1002/mar.20204
medium into an innovative retailing medium, the Internet is changing the world of retailing (Klein, 1998). As the fastest growing retail channel, the growth of Internet retail sales nearly tripled that of total retail sales in 2004 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2004). Although Internet retail sales remained only 5% of total retail sales in 2005 (DMNews, 2006), its future growth is optimistic. According to Forrester