research on impact of website design and content on customer purchasing behavior

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Research Report on
“How website design and content element impact on online
customer purchasing behavior?”

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Research Report on
“How website design and content element impact on online
customer purchasing behavior”
Course code: MGT- 407
Course name: Business Research
Prepared for:
Dr. Muhammad Shariat Ullah
Associate Professor,
Department of Management.
University of Dhaka.
Prepared by:
Dip Das
18th Batch, Sec: B, Roll No: 18124
Department of Management.
University of Dhaka.
Date of submission: 22 November, 2015

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Acknowledgement:
Firstly, I would like to thank the almighty GOD who gave me the strength and potential to
complete the task which was assigned to me at the beginning of this semester in time. Secondly,
I am very grateful to our ‘’Research Management” course instructor, Dr. Mohammad Shariat
Ullah whose instruction and inspiration have made this task complete successfully. The success
and final aftermath of this research is a result of the help of many people and I extremely lucky
to have such kind of assisting people who always encouraged me and extended their kind and
whole-hearted co-operation with providing information and assistance for the completion of this
Research.

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Letter of Transmittal
November22, 2015
Dr. Muhammad Shariat Ullah
Associate Professor,
Department of Management,
University of Dhaka.
Subject: Submission of research report on “how ecommerce website design and content element
impact on online customer purchasing behavior”.
Dear Sir,
I am very delightful that I am on the stage of submitting the research report on “how ecommerce
website design and content element impact on online customer purchasing behavior”. The report
is prepared on the primary data, experience, knowledge, and skill that I have acquired from the
course conducted by grateful course instructor. I have tried and worked hard to collect data and
analyze the research data and I am sure that I have provided real and fair data and idea on the
concerned issue.
I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to know in detail about preparing
research report. I sincerely prepared this research report. I truly appreciated this assignment and I
enjoyed it very much.
Yours Sincerely
Dip Das
Roll no: 18124
Section: B
Session: 2011-12
Batch: 18th
Department Of Management
University of Dhaka

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List of Figures:
Figure 4.1: Respondent’s age
Figure 4.2: Respondent’s gender
Figure 4.3: Have you shopped online past month
Figure 4.4: Influence of color combination of website
Figure 4.5: Advantage to shop all time on the internet
Figure 4.6 Difficulty of shopping
Figure 4.7 product find is flexible on ecommerce website
Figure 4.8: shopping online is risky
Figure 4.9: Facility to pay on the easy system
Figure 4.10: availability of broad range of product
Figure 4.11: facilitation of FAQ system in the web content
Figure 4.12: Product image quality in the website
Figure 4.13: The sufficiency of product and service information
Figure 4.14 The importance of product review on purchasing decision
Figure 4.15 Hesitation of giving credit card number through website
Figure 4.16 Influence of logo on online customer
Figure 4.17 website design and good content that satisfy the online customer

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Contents
Executive summery.....................................................................................................................................7
Chapter 1 (Introductory part).................................................................................................................8
1.1 Background of the study...............................................................................................................8
1.2 Objective of study...........................................................................................................................8
1.3 Hypothesis ........................................................................................................................................9
1.4 Scope of the study ..........................................................................................................................9
1.5 Significance of the study ...............................................................................................................9
1.6 Limitations of the study ...............................................................................................................10
Chapter 2 (Literature review)...............................................................................................................11
Chapter 3 (Methodology Part).............................................................................................................12
3.1 Research methodology................................................................................................................12
3.2 Data collection ...............................................................................................................................12
3.2.1 Primary sources ......................................................................................................................12
3.2.2 Interview area.........................................................................................................................12
3.2.4 Sampling method....................................................................................................................12
3.2.5 Sample size ..............................................................................................................................12
3.3 Analysis of data.............................................................................................................................12
Chapter 4 (Findings and Analysis Part)..............................................................................................13
4.1 Findings............................................................................................................................................13
4.1.1 Responses.................................................................................................................................13
4.2 Analysis ...........................................................................................................................................22
4.3 Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................23
References:...............................................................................................................................................24
Appendix..................................................................................................................................................25

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Executive summery
Ecommerce is now a wide populated name in the world market and economy. As globalization
change the economy in the world so it also making change in Bangladesh. Online market and
ecommerce are growing rapidly in the urban place of our country. People are using internet and
getting life easier to give order and get service by a single click. Online and ecommerce
company make website and webpage to get their products and services.
This research would seek for the relation of website design and content and purchasing behavior
of online customer. This research would answer the question of the impact of website design and
content on online customer behavior.
The research aimed at assessing the impact of website design and content of webpage on
customer purchasing behavior in ecommerce.
The total number of respondents is 121 including both male and female who are selected by
purposive sampling technique.
Acquired data in research have been analyzed by STATA-13 software. To evaluate the data,
descriptive statistical methods (Number, Percentage) have been used. Microsoft office 2013 has
been used to make chart and graphical view.
The website design, content element and online customer’s purchasing behavior would mark the
relationship. The dependent variable is r purchasing behavior of online customer and
independent variable is website design and content element of ecommerce.
By analyzing the data it was found that website design and content elements are inter-related to
the online customer purchasing behavior.

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Chapter 1 (Introductory part)
1.1 Background of the study
The definition of e-commerce includes business activities that are business-to-business (B2B),
business-to-consumer (B2C), extended enterprise computing (also known as "newly emerging
value chains"), d-commerce, and m-commerce. Conducting business online. Selling goods, in the
traditional sense, is possible to do electronically because of certain software programs that run
the main functions of an e-commerce Web site, including product display, online ordering, and
inventory management. The software resides on a commerce server and works in conjunction
with online payment systems to process payments. Since these servers and data lines make up the
backbone of the Internet, in a broad sense, e-commerce means doing business over
interconnected
In the emerging global economy, e-commerce and e-business have increasingly become a
necessary component of business strategy and a strong catalyst for economic development. The
integration of information and communications technology (ICT) in business has revolutionized
relationships within organizations and those between and among organizations and individuals.
Specifically, the use of ICT in business has enhanced productivity, encouraged greater customer
participation, and enabled mass customization, besides reducing costs.
With the fast development and increasing use of the World Wide Web as both an information
seeking and an electronic commerce tool, web usability studies grow in importance. Numerous
web design checklists have been developed that focus on features such as loading time, color and
font use, organization of information content, navigability, active links, etc.---features that may
influence users' satisfaction with the website. Yet it is unclear whether there is an inclusive
collection of features, whether some of these features are more important than others, and
whether addressing these features is sufficient to make users satisfied with the websites, to keep
their interest in the websites, and eventually to motivate them to revisit the websites.
This research significantly define the relation between the website design and customer behavior
because it really create impact on human psychology. This research will briefly shows the two
variables and indicate that website and pictorial display have impact on human behavior.
1.2 Objective of study
The research focuses on the following objectives-
 Determinates the Website design and content element of e-commerce that impact on
customer purchasing behavior.

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1.3 Hypothesis
H0: There is no significant positive relationship between website design and content
element and customer purchasing behavior.
 H1: There is positive relationship between website design and content element and
customer purchasing behavior.
1.4 Scope of the study
This study focuses on the impact of website design and content element on customer purchasing
behavior. This survey has been conducted in the following area- Dhaka, Dhaka University area and
Sherpur through the google forms.
1.5 Significance of the study
Ecommerce now considers a fundamental and necessary way to trade and business. People are
more interested to gain more time saving way to get service and product. As this reason people
are attracting to the online market. In the metropolitan area like Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna,
Mymensingh, Bogra, Rangpur, Rajshahi peope are ordering product or services through internet.
There are many online market and website to sell and purchase product to the customer. In this
time people give order like food order through the website to the restaurant or linkage site by one
click. As example Food Panda is one of the most popular online market to get food on
emergency.
People are entering to the website to give order but people mind are wanting and impressing on
good looking website and ample storage product website. If people search product on website
but can not find their expecting product then they will be disappointed and demotivated. If
ecommerce website will provide enough product and high definition picture of product then they
will be motivated. There will be facilitation of product review option and FAQ content to gain
better service.
The main significance of this study to reveal the impact of content element and design of website
on online customer purchasing behavior. The study has revealed that people are cautious about
website design and information that include in website about their purchasing intention. By this
study the online shopping user has also revealed.

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1.6 Limitations of the study
Research is a matter of time. It requires sufficient time, extensive study on subject matter,
sufficient monetary support etc. As it is a research which is conducted personally, the main
obstacles are monetary support and time shortage. Difference in view of male and female in
same regards has made the observation very difficult. Moreover, time shortage and no monetary
support have compelled the research interview to be limited only within 2 districts.

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Chapter 2 (Literature review)
E-commerce, business based on the Internet, has changed not only the customer’s buying activities but
also the seller’s business and marketing strategies. E-commerce is not only about Websites but also
includes the customer’s privacy, secure check out, delivery, and service. A homepage, which is the first
loaded web page on a website, creates a first impression for users. Nielsen and Tahir [3] point out that
"homepages are the most valuable real estate in the world." Users will see the homepage first and then
stay for a while to see whether the website is useful or interesting. Mahlke’s research [4] showed that
usefulness was a top factor that can make a customer stay on the website. Van Duyne et al [5] noted that
balancing the branding, navigation, content, and download speed can be factors to entice customers. Well-
organized information and other elements will be keys to successful E-commerce. There are many
guidelines suggesting how to make more usable Websites but research in how to organize visual elements
for E-commerce is very rare. W3C providing a more contextual definition for the term, states “Web
Accessibility is a term used to identify the extent to which information on Web pages can be successfully
accessed by persons with disabilities including the aging” (W3C, 2000).On the basis webpage and its
loading speed a survey conducted by Hamilton (1997) [6] speed (i.e., slow speed) was the number one
complaint of Web users (77%). Most potential e-commerce customers do not want to wait for a seemingly
endless page to load. Instead, they hit the browser ‘stop’ button and go elsewhere. Therefore, large, pretty
graphic files and “cool” animation may come at a price to the Web business owner in terms of lost
business (Busch [June 1997, pp. 98-99]). Tadjer (1998) [7] recommends to “design for flexibility.” This
means that urgent changes can be made without having to take the site off line.
By applying Herzberg's [8] motivation-hygiene theory, we hypothesize that there are two types of features
in the web environment that play different roles on user satisfaction or dissatisfaction with a web
interface.
According to Marchionini [9], users’ information seeking tasks or searching behaviors make use of two
classes of strategies, browsing and analytical strategies.According to Gill [19], user satisfaction with a
system can be enhanced through intrinsic motivational factors similar to those identified by Herzberg. An
early paper by Jarvenpaa et al. (11) considered the question of trust for Internet store consumers across a
variety of culture.Past studies such as Cyr (2008) or Yoon (2002) (12)provided empirical evidence on
how various design factors build trust in the context of B2C ecommerce.

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Chapter 3 (Methodology Part)
3.1 Research methodology
Though sometimes researcher follows a particular methodology to conduct his research, I have
followed a mixed methodology to conduct my research consisting of mainly quantitative and
sometimes with association of empirical method. On the one hand, it has analyzed the collected
primary data; on the other hand, I have gone for field study to see the impact empirically
3.2 Data collection
For this research, the data are collected from 2 sources.
1. Primary sources
3.2.1 Primary sources
Primary data are collected from personal interview with structured questionnaire.
3.2.2 Interview area
As a part of research, I have taken some interviews in three areas of Bangladesh. This interview
includes different professions of people so that I can easily understand the impact of political
conflict on human security. The areas are: 1. Dhaka 2. Dhaka University 3. Sherpur
3.2.4 Sampling method
In order to keep the research crystal clear and acceptable, I have done my sampling by purposive
sampling technique.
3.2.5 Sample size
The total number of respondents is 121 included both male and female who is selected purposely
3.3 Analysis of data
Acquired data in research has been analyzed by STATA-13 software. To evaluate the data,
descriptive statistical methods (Number, Percentage) have been used. Microsoft office 2013 has
been used to make chart and graphical view.

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Chapter 4 (Findings and Analysis Part)
4.1 Findings
Basically the hypothesis is a causality based hypothesis, the variables of website design and
content element and online customer purchasing behavior would mark the relationship. The
dependent variable is online customer purchasing behavior and the independent variables the
website design and content element of ecommerce.
According to the responses of respondent to the questions in the data collection tool, the
following conclusions are reached:
4.1.1 Responses
According to the survey total 121 respondents response is including 82 male (68.9%) and 37
female (31.1%). They are segmented by age including 15-18 range age people are 2(1.7%), 19-
22 are 27(22.5), 23-26 are 59(49.2%), 27-30 are 24(20%) and 30+ are 8(6.7%). On this
respondents there are 56(47.5%) people were shopped online last month and 62(52.5) were not.
4.1 Respondent Age

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Figure 4.2: Respondents gender
Figure 4.3 Respondent purchasing history
The data are collected by 5 point scale where 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = neutral, 4 =
agree and 5 = strongly agree.

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Figure 4.4 Influence of color combination of website
Figure 4.4 shows that only 5 respondents strongly agreed to the question that color combination
of website influence the online customer where 9 respondents strongly disagreed and 21
respondents were neutral).
Figure 4.5 Advantage to shop all time on the internet
This figure shows that 53 respondents are agree to that question that advantage to shop at any
time on the internet and 32 respondents are neutral about that question and 3 are strongly
disagree.

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Figure 4.6 Difficulty of shopping
This figure shows the percentage of respondents who answer about difficulty of shopping on the
internet. The 32 are strongly disagree to this question and 13 are agree to this question.
Figure 4.7 product find is flexible on ecommerce website
This figure shows that 46 respondents are agree that flexibility in product finding on ecommerce
site and 21 are disagree about this question.

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Figure 4.8 shopping online is risky
This figure shows that 35 respondents are neutral and confused and 24 are strongly agree and 23
are strongly disagree about this question.
Figure 4.9 Facility to pay on the easy system
This figure shows that 52 respondents are agree that it has easy payment system and 21 are
disagree and 29 said may be.

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Figure 4.10 availability of broad range of product
This figure explained that 24 respondents are agree that it has broad range but 34 are confused
and agree.
Figure 4.11 facilitation of FAQ system in the web content
This figure shows that whether website has FAQ system in the content or not. The 37
respondents are agree to that question and 23 are disagree and 36 are neutral.

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Figure 4.12 Product image quality in the website
In this figure shows the respondents response about product image quality of ecommerce
website. The 24 respondents are disagree that product images are accurate and 27 are neutral and
31 are agree.
The information given about the products and services on the internet is sufficient.
Figure 4.13 The sufficiency of product and service information
In this figure shows that 11 respondents are strongly agree that information of product and
service on the internet is sufficient and 23 are disagree to this fact. But 44 are agree that
information that provide is sufficient.

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Figure 4.14 The importance of product review on purchasing decision
The website has product review content that influence on online customer purchasing decision.
The 47 respondents are agree to this question and 2 are strongly disagree.
Figure 4.15 Hesitation of giving credit card number through website
This figure shows that 45 respondents are agree that they are hesitate to give credit card number
and 31 are said may be. Only 17 respondents are disagree.

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Figure 4.16 Influence of logo on online customer
This figure shows that 42 respondents are agree that ecommerce companies logo influence
them.21 are strongly agree and 19 are disagree about this question.
Figure 4.17 website design and good content that satisfy the online customer
Figure shows that 30 respondents are agree that good website design and content element satisfy
their shopping and only 4 are strongly disagree that question

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4.2 Analysis
Table Q.5: Shopping online is risky
Variable Coefficient t-value p-value significance
Q.1 color combination -.2916523 -2.66 .009 significant
Q.2 Advantage to shop at any
time
-.0754667 -.53 .597 insignificant
Q.3 difficult to shop on the
internet
.4369095 4.85 .000 significant
Q.4 flexible to find out product .0496762 .45 .650 insignificant
Q.6 easy payment system .0349904 .28 .780 insignificant
Q.7 broad products availability .0504529 .49 .627 insignificant
Q.8 frequently ask question
system
.0500751 .42 .677 insignificant
Q.9 image accuracy -.2540602 -2.79 .007 significant
Q.10 sufficient information -.011473 -.11 .916 insignificant
Q.11 product review system -.03854 -.34 .732 insignificant
Q.12 hesitation to give credit
card number
.0518763 .48 .631 insignificant
Q.13 influence of companies
logo
.1676456 -1.59 .114 insignificant
Q.14 website design and
content is crucial part of
satisfaction
-.0370095 -.34 .731 insignificant
“R-sq” .5160 Average
F 7.22 p=.0000 Significant
N 121

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On the basis of Table 4.2 analyzed by stata 13, this research is significant because of the F value
is 7.22, P value is 0.0000. This research explaining power 52% where R2
=.5160, and rest of
0.484 (48%) are unexplained. This research perform three significant which says online shopping
is risky, difficulty to shop in the internet, image that show on the website are not accurate .
So if this color combination reduced by 1 unit than risk increase -.2916523.
If difficulty to shop on the internet reduced by 1 unit than risk decrease .4369095
Lastly if image accuracy that show on the website reduced by 1 unit than risk increase -
.2540602.
So the hypothesis is failed to reject.
4.3 Conclusion
The demand and use of ecommerce is increasing day by day. People are more concern about
their time and product/service quality. So they are adopting time saving way to get product. This
research shows that people are using online shopping increasingly. But website design and
content element that including in webpage influence and impact on customer adoption and
purchasing behavior. If Ecommerce site and webpage provide secure and attractive design and
content then people will more attract to the online shopping and ecommerce. Lastly concluding
that ecommerce company need to provide good webpage design and affluent content element to
attract and satisfy customer.

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References:
1. Diane Cabell, http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/olds/ecommerce/introduction.html,30 April 2001
2. Tadjer,R.,“ How to Avoid the 10 Fatal Website Mistakes,” March 1998,
http://www.techweb.com/netbiz/archives/fatalmistakestop1 -2.html
3. F. Herzberg, Work and the Nature of Man. Chapter 6, World Publishing, NY, 1966, 71-91.
4. G. Marchionini, Information Seeking in Electronic Environments, Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge, 1995
5. T. G. Gill, “Expert Systems Usage: Task Change and Intrinsic Motivation”. MIS Quarterly,
1996, Summer, 301-329.
6. Jarvenpaa, S, Tractinsky, N, & Saarinen, L. (l999). Consumer Trust in an Internet Stores: A
cross-cultural validation, Journal of Computer Mediated Communications, 5 (2), December, at
http://www.ascusc.org/jcmc/vol5/issue2/jarvenpaa.html.
7. Cyr, D. (2008) ‘Modeling website design across cultures: relationships to trust, satisfaction,
and e-loyalty’, Journal of Management Information Systems, Vol. 24, No. 4, pp.47–72.
8. Zorayda Ruth B. Andam, en.wikibooks.org/wiki/E-Commerce_and_E-Business/Introduction
9. Nielsen, J. and Tahir, M., Homepage Usability, New Riders, Indianapolis, Preface, (2001).
10. Mahlke, Sascha, Factors Influencing the Experience of Website Usage, CHI 2002, April
20–25, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 846-847 (2002).
11. Van Duyne, D,K, Landay, J. A., Hong, J. I., The Design of Sites, Addison Wesley, Boston,
229 (2003).
12. Hamilton, A., “Avoid the #1 Website Sin: Slow Loading
Pages,” September 9, 1997, http://www4.zdnet.com/anchordesk/story/story_1244.html.

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Appendix
The questionnaire are given below:
“How ecommerce website design and content element impact on online customer
purchasing behavior?”
1. Age:
o 15-18
o 19-222
o 23-26
o 27-30
o 30+
2. Gender:

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o Male
o Female
3. Have you shopped online within past month?
o Yes
o No
On a scale of 1 to 5 , how would you rate each of these statements.
1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=maybe, 4=agree, 5=strongly agree
Question 1 2 3 4 5
1. Color combination of
ecommerce site influence you
2. Advantage to shop all time
on the internet
3. It is more difficult to shop
on the internet
4. Flexible to find out
product/service on
ecommerce site
5. Shopping online is risky
6. Facilitation of easy to use
payment system in content
7. Selection of goods
available on the internet is
very broad
8. It has facility of frequently
ask question(FAQ)system in
web content
9. The images of products
shown on the web sites are

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very accurate
10. The information given
about the products and
services on the internet is
sufficient.
11. Content of product review
impact you in purchasing
decision
12. While shopping online, I
hesitate to give my credit card
number
13. Companies logo influence
on visit ecommerce site
14. Website design and
content is crucial part that
satisfy you

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