Components of apparel e-retailer websites: qualitative analysis of the components of apparel e-retailer websites (part I)

Abstract

This paper investigates the shopping experience in an online environment through examining the content of apparel e-retailer websites. The analysis is conducted through dividing the web content into four aspects: product information, product display, customer services offered and the ease of navigation. The total of 105 components were examined. The survey includes 17 top performing UK apparel e-retailers, with different operational structure: multiples, catalogues, department stores and pure play e-retailers. The frequency of appearance of each component is examined in order to provide information of what components apparel retailers exploit. The content analysis shows that services and ease of navigation exhibit uniformity throughout all sites and comply to a great extent with best practice. Although a lot of basic product information is given, e-retailers do not provide enough sensory information useful in making purchase decisions for garments. The products are displayed to satisfy an economically oriented shopper, thus disregarding the fashion-oriented ones.