How Online Stores Confuse Shoppers: Conceptual Framework and Empirical Investigation

The current research theoretically develops and empirically tests a framework of the antecedents and consequences of electronic Retail Shopper Confusion. Study one uses a projective technique to investigate confusion drivers in online store environments. The identification of nine confusing online store elements provides input for an online experiment employing a writing scenario technique. Online consumers react in a confusing shopping situation with avoidance behavior (e.g., shopping cart abandonment, low repeat visiting intentions). The findings advance the understanding of the elicitation of negative feelings by online store environments and provide an explanation why shoppers react with avoidance behavior in specific online shopping situations.