Web experience effects in a virtual shopping interaction environment

The objective of this chapter is to contextualize the concepts of web atmospherics and web experience in the particular case of a shopping situation in the Internet environment. Based on a broader concept of user experience, the chapter identifies the main influencers of consumer behaviour in the Internet environment assessing the role and degree of importance of usability, trust and other web experience dimensions on consumer decision-making processes and responses. The chapter presents the results of a research project comparing the influence of the web experience on consumer behaviour in different cultural environments; the study analyses the role of cultural differences on the online shopping behaviour of consumers from two different European countries. The study identifies several similarities and a few differences in the way web experience factors affect the decision making process and the choice of an online vendor by customers with different cultural backgrounds. The findings provide evidence of behavioural homogenization between consumers of different ethnic origin in the new global virtual marketplac