Information Search Patterns in E-Commerce Product Comparison Services

To facilitate product selection and purchase decisions on e-commerce Web sites, the presentation of product information is very important. In this research, the authors study how disposition styles influence users’ search patterns in product comparison services of e-commerce Web sites. The results show that people use relatively more feature paths and less product paths in vertical disposition style than horizontal disposition style. The findings also indicate that there are relatively more feature paths and less product paths in the first half than second half of the information search paths. This is consistent with Gensch’s two-stage choice model which suggests that people use attribute processing to derive a consideration set before they apply alternative processing to arrive at a final choice in product comparison services. DOI: 10.4018/jdm.2010040102 Journal of Database Management, 21(2), 26-40, April-June 2010 27 Copyright © 2010, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Siau, Tian, & Ling, 2002; Tarafdar & Zhang, 2007, 2008; Tarasewich, Pomplun, Fillion, & Broberg, 2005). Hence, the design of product comparison services on e-commerce Web sites is important for success in e-commerce. Product comparison services in e-commerce Web sites are usually presented in one of two disposition styles: vertical disposition and horizontal disposition. Vertical disposition displays products by columns and features/ attributes by rows (see Figure 1). Horizontal disposition displays products by rows and features/attributes by columns (see Figure 2). For example, vertical disposition style is used for product comparison at Dell.com, and horizontal disposition style is used to display different flight options at Travelocity.com. Research has shown that information presentation format can influence consumers’ information acquisition and processing strategies (Bettman & Kakkar, 1977; Biehal & Chakravarti, 1982; Jarvenpaa, 1989). Hence, the disposition style used in online product comparison services can have an impact on consumers’ information search patterns and possibly the decisions they make. The objective of this research is to examine the effects of vertical and horizontal disposition styles on users’ information search patterns in the e-commerce context. LITERATURE REVIEW Human-computer interaction and design issues are important for e-commerce to be successful (Nah & Davis, 2002; Zhang, Nah, & Benbasat, 2005). This section reviews related literature on product presentation in e-commerce Web sites and on decision making.