Retail purchasing environments on the internet: case studies
on two commercial websites

Abstract: In recent years, the Internet has generated a tremendous level of
excitement. The promise of electronic commerce and online shopping will
depend to a great extent upon the interface of how people interact with the
computer. Electronic access to a global marketplace can bring more powerful
and efficient purchasing, greater choice, more personalised service, and new
kinds of products and services together with new ways to purchase. The
purchase environment is of great importance in this new way of handling
businesses. The familiar layout of the physical store becomes, on the
Website, a labyrinth of demolish menus, product indices and search features.
A help button on the home page of the Web shopping site replaces the sales
clerk’s friendly advice and service. The aim with this thesis is to
investigate the purchase environment on the Internet by looking more closely
at how the layout and design of Websites can be described and how customer
service is handled online. The result shows that it is important to take
advantage of the creative ways of presenting information that comes with the
Internet, especially the opportunities to expose products in a different way
than in traditional stores. Aspects such as entertainment and customer
support are two important issues when operating on the Internet.