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Blackwell Publishing LtdOxford, UKIJCInternational Journal of Consumer Studies1470-6423© 2006 The Authors; Journal compilation © 2006 Blackwell Publishing LtdOctober 200631••204212Original Article
Website evaluation criteria
International Journal of Consumer Studies ISSN 1470-6431
Website evaluation criteria among US college student
consumers with different shopping orientations and Internet
channel usage
Yoo-Kyoung Seock
1
Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Interiors, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA
2
Department of Apparel, Housing and Resource Management, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA
Introduction
Since the emergence of the Internet, an increasing number of
consumers have used the Internet to obtain information about
products and services, and/or purchase them (Korner and Zimmer-man,
factor in attracting online shoppers to visit a company’s online
store and learn about its products and services and in ensuring
repeat purchases. Despite the increased use of the Internet as a
shopping channel, many researchers, however, have reported that
the number of online shoppers and total sales through the Internet
are still marginal compared with those in traditional retailing, in
part because of website quality (Hoffman
and Todd, 1997; Lohse and Spiller, 1998). A study by Elliot and
Fowell (2000) showed that online shoppers have been frustrated
with the quality of the websites, particularly such attributes as
responsiveness of customer service, ease of site navigation, sim-plicity
evaluate websites when they make purchase decisions and the
perception of their shopping experience at the websites plays a
major role in creating demand for online purchasing (Zellweger,
1997; Swaminathan
204
Y.-K. Seock and J.H. Chen-Yu
1
and Jessie H. Chen-Yu
2
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to compare the website evaluation criteria among college
student consumers in the US with different shopping orientations and Internet channel
usage (i.e. online information searchers, online purchasers). The sample for this research
was 414 college students, non-married and aged 18–22 who have experience in visiting
websites selling apparel products. Five apparel website evaluation criteria were identified
by factor analysis (i.e. product information, customer service, privacy/security, navigation,
auditory experience/comparison shopping). Based on shopping orientation factors, cluster
analysis revealed three shopping orientation clusters (i.e. Hesitant In-home Shoppers,
Practical Clothing Shoppers, Involved Clothing Shoppers). Factorial
MANOVA
showed that
website evaluation criteria were significantly different among college student consumers
with different shopping orientations and between online information searchers and online
purchasers. Implications and limitations of the study are discussed.
2000; Geissler, 2001). Website quality has become a crucial
, 1995; Jarvenpaa
et al.
of checkout process, and security of transaction and per-sonal
information. The notion in the literature is that consumers
, 1999). Investigating online consumers’
, 1999). Swami-nathan
International Journal of Consumer Studies
31
(2007) 204–212 © The Authors. Journal compilation © 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
et al.
website evaluation criteria is important for e-tailers to develop a
website that can attract online shoppers to the company and com-municate
successfully with their customers, which eventually
helps the company to sell its products and satisfy and retain its
customers.
In the previous research, consumer shopping orientation was
identified as an important predictor of online shopping behaviour
(Sheth and Parvatiyar, 1995; Swaminathan
et al.
et al.
(1999) suggest that shopping orientation is an impor-tant
indicator of the probability of making purchases on the
Internet. Sheth and Parvatiyar (1995) also indicate the importance
of shopping orientation in determining shoppers’ propensity to
engage in Internet transactions. Understanding target customers’
shopping orientations is essential for market segmentation. Shop-ping
orientations present consumers’ needs for products and ser-vices
as well as motivations and styles of shopping (Lumkin and
Hawes, 1985; Shim and Kotsiopulos, 1992; Shim and Mahoney,
1992). In the face of the emergence of various retail venues includ-ing
the Internet and the increase of competition in the market,
retailers must offer products and services according to customers’
shopping orientations to fulfil their specific needs and preferences
and to maximize their satisfaction. Retailers also need to develop
marketing strategies based on customers’ shopping orientations
to reach the target market effectively. Despite the importance of
shopping orientation in the context of online shopping, no research
has addressed the issue of whether online consumers with different
shopping orientations have different criteria in evaluating shop-ping
websites. This research will contribute to the body of con-sumer
behaviour literature by identifying online college student
Keywords
Internet usage, online shopping, shopping
orientation, website evaluation criteria.
Correspondence
Yoo-Kyoung Seock, 352 Dawson Hall,
Department of Textiles, Merchandising
and Interiors, The University of Georgia,
Athens, GA 30602-3622, USA.
E-mail: yseock@fcs.uga.edu
doi: 10.1111/j.1470-6431.2006.00502.x

, 1999; Elliot and
31
205
consumers’ shopping orientations and the differences in website
evaluation criteria among these consumers with various shopping
orientations.
Website evaluation criteria may also vary among college student
consumers with different Internet channel usage. Some consumers
may use the Internet to search for product and service information
and also to buy these items through the Internet. Some may search
for the information through the Internet, but buy products/services
through non-Internet channels. Because of the differences in Inter-net
usage, online information searchers and online purchasers may
consider the importance of each website attribute differently, and
thus, their website evaluation criteria need to be investigated inde-pendently.
In order to attract online purchasers to shop at their
websites or turn existing customers into loyal customers, market-ers
need to understand how online purchasers evaluate websites,
that is, what characteristics are important to them. In addition, by
knowing how online information searchers evaluate websites and
what the main hindrances that discourage searchers’ purchases
online are, marketers can develop a website that increases the
possibility of converting online information searchers to online
purchasers or luring them to other retail venues for purchasing
after finding items online. Thus, the study of comparing the web-site
evaluation criteria among consumers with different Internet
channel usage (i.e. online information searchers, online purchas-ers)
will allow marketers to build effective websites to attract and
retain customers through the Internet. Researchers have suggested
that the website attributes considered important by shoppers may
differ by product category (McGoldrick
et al.
Fowell, 2000). In this study, we focus on apparel websites because
clothing has recently emerged as one of the top categories of
merchandise sold online (Greenfield Online, 2000; Ernst and
Young L.L.P., 2001). Pastore (2000) suggests that 60% of Internet
users browse websites looking for clothing or purchase clothing
items online. A consumer survey by Retail Forward Inc. indicated
that, in November 2001, 30% of Internet users purchased clothing
online in US, as compared with 29% who purchased books and
25% who purchased music products (Kim and Stoel, 2004). The
amount of apparel sales has increased rapidly. In 2000, online
apparel sales totaled $5.7 billion, up from $2.9 billion in 1999
(Kemp, 2001). According to the web ratings agency comScore
Media Metrix, online apparel sales reached $4.4 billion in the first
7 months of 2003, up 38% against $3.2 billion in the same period
of 2002 (HighBeam Research, 2003). The significant growth of
online apparel shopping suggests that it is essential for apparel
retailers to develop or strengthen their Internet websites.
Store/website attributes and
evaluation criteria
Existing evidence from research showed the importance that Inter-net
website attributes have on consumers’ online shopping behav-iour.
Some studies showed that website attributes played a major
role in creating demand for online purchasing and increasing store
transactions and sales. Zellweger (1997) identified such website
attributes as convenience, product information, ease of use to
search product information and competitive pricing as being
important criteria that consumers used to make an online purchase
decision. Lohse and Spiller (1998) found that website attributes
such as product lists, the number of hyperlinks to other websites,
hours of promotion and customer service feedback significantly
affected monthly sales as well as monthly traffic. Kim and Stoel
(2004) studied the relationship between online consumers’ per-ceived
apparel website quality and their satisfaction with the web-site,
and found that informational fit-to-task, transaction capability
and response time were significantly related to the online apparel
shoppers’ satisfaction toward the websites. Website attributes
influence not only consumers’ current purchases but also their
intention for future purchases. A study by Watchravesringkan and
Shim (2003) examined the relationship between website attributes
and consumer’s future intention to shop online. Among five
dimensions of website features (i.e. secure transaction, social
shopping, speedy process, easy choice and saving money), secure
transaction and speed process were significantly related, both to
intentions to search for information and to purchase apparel prod-ucts
online.
Shopping orientation
A number of studies on consumers’ shopping behaviour in tradi-tional
retail settings indicated that consumers’ store evaluation
criteria varied among consumers with different shopping orienta-tions
(Monroe and Guiltinan, 1975; Shim and Kotsiopulos, 1992;
Moye and Kincade, 2002). Previous research on shopping orienta-tion
in the context of Internet shopping also indicated that con-sumers
who had distinct shopping orientations had different
perceptions and behaviours in online shopping. Swaminathan
et al.
(1999) found that consumers’ shopping orientations were
significantly related to the frequency with which they shopped and
the amount of money they spent on the Internet. The convenience
shoppers tended to use the Internet more frequently to purchase
goods and spend more money in their Internet purchases, whereas
consumers’ need for social interaction when shopping negatively
affected the propensity to engage in Internet shopping. Vijayasar-athy
and Jones (2000) explored the relationship between shopping
orientation and intention to shop using Internet catalogues. They
identified seven types of shopping orientation (i.e. in-home shop-pers,
economic shoppers, mall shoppers, personalized shoppers,
ethical shoppers, convenience shoppers, enthusiastic shoppers).
Two of these seven, in-home shopping orientation and mall shop-ping
preference, emerged as significant discriminators between
high and low intention toward online shopping. Despite the impor-tance
of shopping orientation in market segmentation and an
increasing number of online consumers, no study investigated the
relationship of online consumers’ shopping orientations and their
website evaluation criteria.
Internet channel usage
Consumers may use a single channel or multiple channels in their
search and purchase activities. Shim
et al.
(2001) indicate that
consumers tend to shop multiple channel combinations including
brick-and-mortar stores, catalogues and the Internet. With the
emergence of the Internet, consumers may search information and
also buy products through the Internet. However, consumer infor-mation
search does not necessarily result in product purchase
through the same medium (Moon, 2004). Consumers may search
information through the Internet, but buy products through tradi-tional
channels or the other way around.

Many studies found that consumers’ shopping experience at one
type of retail channel was a significant predictor for their future
shopping behaviour through the same medium (Shim and Drake,
1990; Eastlick and Lotz, 1999; Shim
Shim and Drake (1990) found that mail-order purchase experience
is the most important predictor of consumers’ intentions to buy
apparel items by mail order. Those who had positive experience
with mail-order shopping tended to have higher intentions to pur-chase
such experience. In the context of Internet shopping, studies found
that consumers’ positive perception of online purchase experience
was a significant predictor for both the intention to search for
information and the intention to purchase via the Internet
(Watchravesringkan and Shim, 2003).
Moon (2004) reported that Internet users’ satisfaction with web-sites
transmission speed, user-friendliness of the structure and update
pace. These results suggest that Internet information searchers are
more satisfied with websites that provide excellent quality and
functions for information search. Considering the difference in
Internet usage, consumers who use Internet for information search
may have characteristics and behaviours distinct from those who
use Internet for both searching and purchasing. However, most
previous studies focused either only on the examination of infor-mation
not examine composite shopping behaviour of both or compare the
differences between online information searchers and online
purchasers.
Hypotheses
From the previous literature on consumers’ online shopping
behaviour, we anticipated that consumers with different shopping
orientations may have different website evaluation criteria. With
the notion that consumers use Internet websites for information
search and/or for purchasing, we also anticipated that online infor-mation
information searchers and online purchasers with the same shop-ping
criteria (i.e. whether a significant interaction exists between shop-ping
criteria). Accordingly, the following research hypotheses were
formulated for this study.
H1: Website evaluation criteria will vary among respondents
with different shopping orientations.
H2: Website evaluation criteria will vary among respondents
with different Internet channel usage (i.e. online information
searchers, online purchasers).
H3: There will be a significant interaction between shopping
orientation and Internet channel usage in website evaluation
criteria.
Methodology
Sample
The population for this research was US college students who
were 18–22 years old, not married, and had experience in visiting
206
, 2001). For example,
et al.
apparel items through mail order than those who had no
was determined by information quantity, website design,
search behaviour or only on purchase behaviour, and did
searchers and online purchasers may have different web-site
evaluation criteria. In addition, we examined whether online
orientation have significantly different website evaluation
orientation and Internet channel usage in website evaluation
websites selling apparel products. Such shoppers are major Inter-net
users and show great potential for future growth in purchasing
products online (Silverman, 2000). These young adult consumers,
the upper end of generation Y or echo boomers, grew up with
computers (CBSNews.com, 2004). They spend an average of
16.7 h a week online compared with 13.5 h watching TV and 12 h
listening to radio (Greenspan, 2003). The use of the Internet is
pervasive among these young consumers, and the Internet has
become a powerful tool for information search and shopping to
this generation. Silverman (2000) reported that clothing is one of
most popular categories for Internet shopping among young con-sumers
aged 16–22 years. Almost 30% of consumers in this group
have experience in purchasing apparel items online, and the dollar
amount they spend online for clothing tops the list, with an aver-age
of $400 per year, followed by books at $256 and music CDs at
$208. Of the Internet shoppers in this age span, college students
have greater access to the Internet than most other population
segments (Jasper and Lan, 1992), and they spend more money
online than any other demographic segments in the US (O’Donell
and Associates, LLC, 2004). This study focused on only non-married
college student consumers, because married consumers
have different shopping behaviour due to lifestyle variations
(Nielsen/NetRatings Inc., 2003).
We used a pool of college students for sampling. A systematic
sample of 15 000 was generated from student directories of an
eastern and a Midwest US university for use in the survey. A self-administered
online questionnaire was sent by e-mail, and a sec-ond
follow-up e-mail was sent a week after the initial one. The
students returned a total of 1344 surveys, which was a return rate
of 9.0%. After eliminating those who did not meet the sample
criteria (i.e. non-married, aged 18–22 who have experience in
visiting websites selling apparel products), and those who com-pleted
the survey incorrectly, 414 responses were retained for the
study. Of these, the majority (75%) was female. The age distribu-tion
was 7.2% for aged 18, 22.0% for aged 19, 28.7% for aged 20,
25.6% for aged 21, and 16.4% for aged 22.
Instrument
A structured questionnaire was developed. Adapted from previous
research on shopping orientation, 27 statements were used to
measure respondents’ apparel shopping orientation (Korgaonkar,
1984; Shim and Kotsiopulos, 1992; Swaminathan
, 1999;
et al.
Vijayasarathy and Jones, 2000; Moye and Kincade, 2002). The
response format was a 4-point Likert-type scale ranging from
strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (4). Two items were used to
ask respondents’ online information search and purchase experi-ences
at websites selling apparel products. The question ‘Over the
past 12 months, about how much did you search the Internet for
information about clothing you may buy?’ was developed by the
researchers, and the other question ‘Over the past 12 months,
about how much did you buy clothing items through the Internet’
was adapted from Shim
et al.
(2001). For both questions, four
possible answers (i.e. never, seldom, occasionally, a lot) were
provided in a 4-point ordinal scale. Thirty-six items were used to
measure respondents’ evaluation criteria for websites selling
apparel products. Among them, 28 items were modified from ones
used in previous studies on website characteristics (Liu
,
et al.
2000; Szymanski and Hise, 2000; Childers
, 2001; Shim
et al.
31

, 2001) and eight items were created by the researchers. They
,
a
31
, 1998), variables
207
et al.
were measured with a 4-point Likert-type scale ranging from not
important at all (1) to very important (4). The instrument was
pretested with 103 students. Based on feedback from the pretest,
the instrument was revised to improve the clarity of the questions
and to increase the content validity of the measurement
instrument.
Data analysis and results
Pillai’s Trace multivariate analyses of variance (
MANOVA
) was
used to examine the three proposed hypotheses, that is, to identify
the main effects and interaction effect of the two independent
variables (i.e. shopping orientation, Internet channel usage) on the
multiple dependent variables (i.e. constructs of website evaluation
criteria). Pillai’s criterion was used to test for significance because
it is more robust than other multivariate test criteria (Hair
et al.
1998). The grouping of each independent variable and the determi-nation
of the constructs of website evaluation criteria are described
in the following sections.
Shopping orientation clusters
Shopping orientation segments were developed using a two-step
process. The constructs of shopping orientation were determined
by principal components of factor analysis with varimax rotation
and then grouped by cluster analysis. To set the criteria for the
factor analysis, factors with eigenvalues greater than 1.0 and items
with rotated factor loadings of 0.50 or greater were retained. To
ensure that each factor identified by the factor analysis would have
only one dimension, any item loading on more than one factor
with a loading score equal to or greater than 0.40 on each factor
was eliminated from the analysis. In addition, because communal-ity
of a variable represents the amount of variance in the factor
solution explained by that variable (Hair
et al.
with communalities less than 0.40 were deleted for reasons of
insufficient contribution to explaining the variance. Variables that
did not meet the above criteria and one-item factors were excluded
from the analysis. Among the 27 items, 25 were retained for the
factor analysis and seven shopping orientation constructs were
identified (see Table 1).
After the factor analysis was completed, respondents were
grouped by cluster analysis using a two-step process. Step 1 of the
cluster analysis was the hierarchical procedure to determine the
appropriate number of clusters. In step 2, the factors were clus-tered
using Ward’s method, and distance was calculated using
squared Euclidean distances. Because cluster analysis is a rather
subjective process, a combination of methods was used to deter-mine
the appropriate number of clusters in the hierarchical proce-dure,
including examination of the agglomeration schedule, icicle
plot, dendrogram and cluster membership. For the clustering algo-rithm,
the average linkages were determined, that is, the average
distance of all the variables in one cluster from all the variables in
another. A hierarchical cluster analysis showed the variables being
Table 1
Clothing shopping orientation constructs
factors Item
Factor
loading
Variance
explained (%)
Cronbach
alpha
Total 63.3 0.67
Brand/fashion consciousness I like to buy popular brands of clothing. 0.78 11.9 0.78
I try to keep my wardrobe up to date with fashion trends. 0.71
A well-known brand means good quality. 0.70
I’m interested in fashion. 0.67
I don’t pay much attention to brand names.
a
0.63
Shopping enjoyment Shopping for clothes puts me in a good mood. 0.78 11.5 0.83
I enjoy shopping for clothes. 0.77
I enjoy spending time browsing for clothes. 0.70
I don’t like to spend much time shopping for clothes.
a
0.66
Price consciousness I shop a lot for special deals on clothing. 0.73 9.8 0.69
I pay a lot of attention to clothing prices. 0.71
I can save a lot of money on clothes by shopping around for bargains. 0.68
When I find clothes I like, I usually buy them without hesitation.
a
0.53
I don’t mind paying high prices for clothes.
0.52
I watch advertisements for sales on clothing. 0.50
Convenience/time consciousness I usually buy my clothes at the most convenient place. 0.79 8.9 0.71
I shop for clothes where it saves time. 0.76
I put a high value on convenience when shopping for clothes. 0.66
Shopping confidence I feel confident in my ability to shop for clothes. 0.78 8.2 0.70
I think I’m a good clothing shopper. 0.75
I’m able to choose the right clothes for myself. 0.74
In-home shopping tendency I like to shop for clothes by mail, telephone or the Internet. 0.92 7.0 0.83
I like to shop from home. 0.91
Brand/store loyalty Once I find a brand I like, I stick with it. 0.81 6.0 0.62
I try to stick to certain brands and stores when I buy clothes. 0.76
a
Reverse-coded item.

combined at each stage of the process and the agglomeration
coefficient. Table 2 shows the means for the shopping orientation
factors in each of the three clusters identified.
Of the three clusters, Cluster 1 had the lowest mean score for in-home
clusters, and it had mid-level scores for the other factors; therefore,
Cluster 1 was named Hesitant In-home Shoppers. They could be
characterized as respondents who were unlikely to shop at home
and in general not highly involved in shopping activities. Cluster 2
had the highest mean score for price consciousness, based on the
between- and within-cluster comparisons, and fairly high mean
scores for in-home shopping tendency and convenience/time con-sciousness,
likely to purchase online and were most concerned about price,
time and convenience, but they exhibited the least brand/fashion
consciousness, shopping enjoyment and brand/store loyalty of the
three clusters. Finally, through comparing between and within the
clusters, Cluster 3 had the highest mean scores for brand/fashion
consciousness, shopping enjoyment, shopping confidence, in-home
mean score for convenience/time consciousness and a mid-level
score for price consciousness; thus, Cluster 3 was named Involved
Clothing Shoppers. They were respondents who were involved in
shopping activities and tended to have little concern about conve-nience,
208
shopping tendency when compared within and between
according to the between-group comparison; there-fore,
Cluster 2 was named Practical Clothing Shoppers. They were
shopping tendency and brand/store loyalty, but the lowest
, 1979; Lumkin and Hawes, 1985; Shim and
31
time or price.
Internet channel usage groups
Respondents were also grouped by their online information
searches and purchase experiences. The respondents who had
searched on the Internet for information about clothing items, but
had never purchased through the Internet were categorized as
online information searchers. The respondents who had searched
and purchased clothing items through the Internet were catego-rized
as online clothing purchasers.
The constructs of apparel website evaluation criteria were deter-mined
by factor analysis with varimax rotation. The same criteria
used in the factor analysis of shopping orientation were applied.
Among the total of 36 items, 21 were retained for the factor
analysis and five constructs of apparel website evaluation criteria
were identified (i.e. product information, customer service, pri-vacy/
security, navigation, auditory experience/comparison shop-ping)
(see Table 3). Auditory experience and comparison shopping
items were grouped together by the factor analysis as one con-struct
suggesting that the respondents who liked to browse various
websites to compare products also preferred websites that provide
auditory effects.
Shopping orientation and website evaluation
criteria (Hypothesis 1)
Among the five constructs of apparel website evaluation criteria,
privacy/security had the highest mean score for all three shopping
orientation clusters (see Table 4). When the differences in website
evaluation criteria among the three shopping orientation clusters
were examined, the
MANOVA
test revealed that the main effect of
shopping orientation on the website evaluation criteria was signif-icant,
thus, the relative importance the respondents gave to the
apparel website attributes varied across the shopping orientation
clusters. The univariate
F
-tests indicated that the respondents’
evaluations of the customer service, navigation and auditory expe-rience/
comparison shopping factors of website characteristics dif-fered
significantly across the shopping orientation clusters at the
0.05 level. Thus, multiple comparisons with Tukey’s honestly sig-nificant
difference (HSD), as a
post hoc
test, were conducted to
examine the between-group differences among the three shopping
orientation clusters. The results showed that the Involved Clothing
Shoppers perceived the customer service and auditory experience/
comparison shopping features of websites as being more impor-tant
than the Hesitant In-home Shoppers did. Involved Clothing
Shoppers also put more importance on navigation features of
websites than Practical Clothing Shoppers and Hesitant In-home
Shoppers did. According to these results, H1 was supported.
Respondents with different shopping orientations had different
website evaluation criteria. These findings are consistent with
previous studies showing that consumers’ shopping orientation is
an important element in predicting their purchase decisions (Cox
and Rich, 1964; Gillet, 1970; Cunningham and Cunningham,
1973; Berkowitz
et al.
Drake, 1990).
Table 2
Shopping orientation clusters
Shopping orientation factors
Means
Cluster 1
Hesitant In-Home Shoppers
(
n
= 158)
Cluster 2
Practical Shoppers
(
n
= 98)
Cluster 3 Involved Shoppers
(
n
= 129)
Brand/fashion consciousness 2.89 2.48 3.19
Shopping enjoyment 3.08 2.42 3.41
Price consciousness 2.99 3.04 2.83
Convenience/time consciousness 2.44 2.85 2.46
Shopping confidence 3.17 3.03 3.49
In-home shopping tendency 1.87 2.94 2.96
Brand/store loyalty 2.82 2.78 3.15

-Pillai’s Trace univariate F-tests
– 8 1.95*
Online information
– 8 0.934
– 368
P
< 0.05; **
P
< 0.01.
31
209
Table 3
Website attributes constructs
Website attributes
factors Item
Factor
loading
Variance
explained (%)
Cronbach
alpha
Total 63.0 0.80
Product information It shows all the colors available for each product. 0.86 16.8 0.73
It shows all the sizes available for each product. 0.81
It tells the prices of products. 0.70
It gives up-to-date information about products. 0.64
It has good quality photos of products. 0.62
It truthfully shows the colors of the products. 0.60
Customer service I can return products if I am not happy with them. 0.75 13.3 0.67
I can get personal sales assistance by e-mail or 1–800 phone numbers. 0.69
If I want to return a product I’ve bought on the website, I will get my money
0.65
back quickly.
I can re-check that my order is correct. 0.64
I can track the status of my order. 0.59
Privacy/security I know that information I give about myself is kept confidential. 0.86 11.9 0.79
I know my credit card number won’t be stolen. 0.82
Information I provide is confidential. 0.81
Navigation The screens are not cluttered. 0.74 11.2 0.60
It’s fun to visit. 0.69
The different screens come up quickly. 0.69
I can easily follow the search path on the screen. 0.59
Auditory experience/ It uses sound to describe products. 0.88 9.8 0.69
comparison shopping It plays music. 0.85
I can easily compare competitors’ products. 0.64
Table 4
Differences between the independent variable groups in website evaluation criteria
Effects Website evaluation criteria constructs
Means
Mean
square d.f.
F
Hesitant in-Home
Shoppers
Practical
Shoppers
Involved
Shoppers
MANOVA
clusters Product information 3.56 3.57 3.65 0.11 2 0.90
Customer service 3.33 3.45 3.54 0.71 2 3.51*
Privacy/security 3.85 3.76 3.90 0.21 2 1.87
Navigation 3.04 3.05 3.29 0.87 2 3.20*
Auditory experience/comparison shopping 1.72 1.80 2.01 1.17 2 4.13*
Internet channel
usage groups
MANOVA
searchers
Online
purchasers
– 4 3.15**
Product information 3.61 3.59 – 0.02 1 0.12
Customer service 3.50 3.38 – 0.61 1 3.00
Privacy/security 3.83 3.84 – 0.01 1 0.09
Navigation 3.24 3.01 – 2.01 1 7.37**
Auditory experience/comparison shopping 1.99 1.70 – 3.16 1 11.15**
Shopping
MANOVA
orientation Product information – – – 0.03 2 0.24
x Customer service – – – 0.13 2 0.64
Internet Privacy/security – – – 0.05 2 0.41
channel usage Navigation – – – 0.01 2 0.04
Auditory experience/comparison shopping – – – 0.87 2 3.07*
Error
MANOVA
Product information – – – 0.13 363
Customer service – – – 0.20 363
Privacy/security – – – 0.11 363
Navigation – – – 0.27 363
Auditory experience/comparison shopping – – – 0.28 363
*

Internet channel usage and website evaluation
criteria (Hypothesis 2)
Among the five constructs of apparel website evaluation criteria,
privacy/security had the highest mean score for both online infor-mation
the differences in website evaluation criteria between online infor-mation
210
searcher and online purchaser groups (see Table 4). When
searchers and online purchasers were examined, the
31
MANOVA
test revealed that the main effect of Internet channel
usage on the website evaluation criteria was significant (see
Table 4). This result implies that the online information searchers
and online purchasers differed in their evaluation of the relative
importance of website attributes. The online information searchers
evaluated the navigation and auditory experience/comparison
shopping features of websites as being more important than the
online purchasers did. According to these results, H2 was sup-ported.
Online information searchers and online purchasers had
different website evaluation criteria.
Interaction between shopping orientation and
Internet channel usage (Hypothesis 3)
The
MANOVA
test revealed that the interaction effect between
shopping orientation and Internet channel usage in the website
evaluation criteria was not significant (see Table 4). The only
significance was found in the factor of auditory experience/com-parison
shopping. The online information searchers with highly
involved clothing shopping orientation evaluated the auditory
experience/comparison shopping features of websites as being
more important than the information searchers with hesitant in-home
shopping orientation did. However, online purchasers with
different shopping orientations did not show a significant differ-ence
in evaluating this factor. Based on the
MANOVA
result, H3
was not supported. Online information searchers and online pur-chasers
with the same shopping orientation did not have signifi-cantly
different website evaluation criteria.
Discussion and implications
In this study, five website evaluation criteria were identified (i.e.
product information, customer service, privacy/security, naviga-tion,
auditory experience/comparison shopping). Among the five
criteria, privacy/security received the highest mean score in all
three shopping orientation clusters and in both online searcher and
purchaser groups, indicating that privacy/security was the most
important criterion of the apparel websites for all consumers
regardless of their shopping orientation and how they use the
Internet. These results suggest that apparel e-tailers should empha-size
their efforts in protecting their customers’ privacy and secu-rity.
For example, guarantees of confidentiality should be
frequently affirmed in various areas of the website, instead of
stating in the policy section only.
One of the important professional missions of educators in the
field of consumer studies is to enhance individuals’ well-being. To
help consumers better understand online shopping safety issues,
consumer educators should inform them of possible dangers and
risks related to online shopping such as fraudulent credit card
payments and privacy issues. As well, they need to provide safe
and secure online shopping guides, such as using the latest version
of their browsers, which supports Secure Sockets Layer that is the
industry standard for sending secure data online, and keeping a
record of transactions (The Shopping Guide, 2002). They also can
make suggestions for possible ways to reduce online shopping
risks, for example, using one credit card with a limited credit line
for online shopping. Another way to increase individuals’ well-being
is through government and business regulations. The current
study helps organizations and individuals interested in public pol-icy
better understand consumers’ concerns and needs regarding
online privacy and security, and provides support for developing
business laws or regulations to increase online safety.
Findings revealed three different shopping orientation groups
(i.e. Hesitant In-home Shoppers, Practical and Involved Clothing
Shoppers). Both Practical and Involved Clothing Shoppers had
similar high score in the in-home shopping tendency. Although
they both had a tendency to purchase clothing items online, results
showed that what they were looking for was different. E-tailers
should notice the differences between these two consumer seg-ments
and emphasize different website attributes to attract and
retain these consumers. The results showed that Practical Clothing
Shoppers were most concerned about price; they paid lots of
attention to clothing price, watched advertisements for sales and
shopped around a lot for special deals. In order to attract Practical
Clothing Shoppers, e-tailers should provide competitive low price
or frequently offer special deals on clothing items. Placing adver-tisements
using various media to promote good deals on clothing
may be another effective strategy. Consumers usually need to pay
for shipping and handling fees when they purchase products online
and pay for shipping costs when they return the unsatisfactory
items. These shipping and handling fees may be a critical barrier
to Practical Shoppers whose primary concern is price. Thus, to
reduce Practical Shoppers’ concern, offering free shipping includ-ing
product return for customers who spent certain amounts of
money, for example, $75 or more, may be a possible approach for
countries that have low shipping costs, such as the US and South
Korea. The results also showed that Practical Shoppers were con-cerned
about convenience and time. They placed importance on
the efficiency of shopping by saving time. These results suggest
that developing a website store that facilitates easy ordering and
returns, as well as provides a convenient payment system and short
delivery times, may satisfy Practical Shoppers’ needs with respect
to convenience and time saving.
The shopping orientation of Involved Clothing Shoppers was
very different from that of the Practical Clothing Shoppers.
Involved Clothing Shoppers were most conscious about fashion
and brand name, enjoyed shopping and had a high brand/store-loyalty
tendency. According to these results, apparel e-tailers
should focus on providing unique and novel products with up-to-date
fashion in order to attract this consumer group. Developing
loyalty programmes to make customers feel they are treated spe-cial
is important for retaining Involved Shoppers. Providing infor-mation
about new products and sales in advance through e-mail
and offering rewards, for example, through points accumulation
by dollars spent, may be possible strategies to encourage custom-ers
to be loyal to the company. The findings also identified several
website attributes that Involved Shoppers perceived as being more
important than the other types of shoppers did. To attract this
segment, apparel e-tailers need to develop a website that is easy to
navigate (e.g. easy to follow the search path, the screens are not
cluttered), provides sufficient and accurate product information

31
211
(e.g. providing up-to-date information, showing all colours/sizes
available), and offers good customer service (e.g. easy return,
personal sales assistance, tracking the status of order).
Although we suggested different emphases in website develop-ment
to target Practical and Involved Shoppers, it does not mean
that one type of shoppers will not appreciate the attributes sug-gested
for the other type of shoppers. For example, such attributes
as a convenient payment system and short delivery times sug-gested
for Practical Shoppers, and easy navigation, sufficient/
accurate product information and good customer service identified
for Involved Shoppers might appeal to both types of shoppers. The
suggestion of offering a points accumulation by dollars spent
scheme to Involved Shoppers to increase store loyalty may also
appeal to Practical Shoppers for reasons of price. However, e-tailers
do need to have a concept of market segmentation identify-ing
and selecting the most appropriate group(s) of consumers for
the company to serve, and putting emphases on the attributes
based on target customers’ evaluation criteria to create a website
with an unique image and strong appeal to their selected segment.
Website evaluation criteria used by online information searchers
and online purchasers were also significantly different. Online
information searchers, especially those with highly involved cloth-ing
shopping orientation, evaluated the auditory experience/com-parison
shopping and navigation features as being more important
than online purchasers did. However, online purchasers consid-ered
the auditory experience/comparison shopping features to be
the least important criterion. These results suggest that e-tailers
that have an online website as their only sale channel should focus
their efforts on the other website attributes to attract online pur-chasers
and build up long-term relationships with them, instead of
spending large amounts of resources on auditory experience/com-parison
shopping features. However, companies that have multi-channels
of sales (e.g. having both location retail stores and web-sites)
should not ignore potential customers who may use websites
for information search and then purchase the product from a local
retail store. To increase the opportunities for gaining new custom-ers
and sales, it would be beneficial for these companies to provide
auditory experience and comparison shopping features to attract
consumers to browse their websites. Current study results revealed
that putting music popular among college student consumers on
the website or using sound effects to present and describe products
may be effective ways to create a fun place for searchers to visit. It
is interesting to note from the results that privacy and security had
the highest mean score for both online information searchers and
online purchasers. One would have thought that this construct
would not be so important for the information searchers compared
with the online purchasers. The finding may imply that when
information searchers browsed websites, they had an intention to
make purchases online, and therefore, also viewed privacy/secu-rity
as an important website attribute. It was also possible that the
concern of privacy/security was the reason why the information
searchers decided not to purchase online but used the Internet as a
channel of obtaining information.
Besides the possible contributions to practitioners, the present
study may also benefit research development in consumer studies.
The current study provides insights of consumers’ online behav-iours
and may help consumer researchers to extend current theo-ries
of consumer behaviour to this new information and purchase
channel. Furthermore, most students in the programme of con-sumer
studies or retail merchandising, especially at the university
level, eventually will be employed in various positions throughout
the apparel/textile industry representing the brands or the stores. It
is important to include the knowledge of Internet shopping and the
concept of market segmentation in the curriculum of these pro-grammes
because the Internet has become a major retail channel
(Reda, 2002). Consumers have become more comfortable with
online shopping, and e-tailers continued to optimize their website
performance and marketing strategies (Greenspan, 2003). Stu-dents
also need to learn how to identify target customers and
develop marketing strategies based on consumers’ unique charac-teristics.
This study provides an example of how to conduct a study
for market segmentation in the context of e-commerce. This study
revealed that website evaluation criteria varied among respondents
with different shopping orientations and different Internet usage,
and provided suggestions for apparel e-tailers to develop effective
websites to reach their target market, for consumer educators to
reduce online consumers’ concerns in privacy and security issues,
and for educators in retail merchandising area to prepare their
students for future careers. However, limitations of the study need
to be noted. Although we used systematic sampling, the subjects
were from only two US universities and the low response rate
might also cause sampling bias. In addition, 75% of our sample
was female. This percentage was higher than that of the general
US college student population. According to the report of US
Census Bureau (Shin, 2005), approximately 56% of US college
student population is female. Our sample did not represent the
general US college student population, and therefore, the results of
this study cannot be generalized to all US college students. Future
studies are needed to provide consistent evidence for generaliza-tion
of the findings and help researchers and marketers further
understand this consumer segment.
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