How can we understand customer preferences and online shopping patterns regarding multiple versus single websites?

Abstract

Online shopping bears the mark of high economic growth and numerous online consumers. Thus, the complexity of the website design is crucial to understand how to attract and maintain customers. More specifically, emphasis is put on the use of the website for online segmentation, in other words with the use of single or multiple websites. Concurrently, customer preferences differ among individual aspects of perception. Hence, the centrality of the study is at the intersection of the aforementioned topics, with a customer-oriented approach. This study, therefore, aims to provide insight into consumers’ online shopping patterns, their preferences regarding website design, and implications for strategic marketing. In addition, emphasis is put on online gender differences regarding online shopping. With a qualitative research approach, twelve informants described and justified their perceptions. The findings indicate that consumers prefer multiple websites when shopping for themselves. The finding was justified with the perception that multiple websites were easiest to use, saved the most time, and appealed the most. However, the single website was perceived as providing the most relevant information. The findings indicate advantages and disadvantages with single and multiple websites, and that emphasis is put on content relevance. In other words, as long as a website offers gender segmentation alternatives, they are satisfied. Notably, operating multiple websites is more expensive than operating a single website. Hence, maintaining multiple websites could be a waste of money, time, and resources, if the users are satisfied with a single website with gender segmentation alternatives. Overall, these findings contribute to companies’ and marketers’ understanding of the impact choice of website design has on consumers.