Cultural face of e-commerce : Armenian and Dutch online consumers

One of the restrictions of online shopping is that buyers cannot actually see, taste and try the product. This increases the importance of availability of product information in a web shop. This study investigated cultural differences and the effect of product information on online shopping. The assumption was that consumers of collectivistic (high-context) cultures prefer experiential and explicit information, whereas members of individualistic cultures (low-context) prefer factual and implicit information. Armenian and Dutch consumers were representatives of collectivistic and individualistic cultures respectively. In an online survey 444 respondents (out of which 234 were Armenians and 210 were Dutch) reported their attitude and purchase intention towards a camera in a web shop. The information provided for the camera was manipulated in six conditions (factual/experiential (information in general and reviews), implicit/explicit). The results indicated no significant differences in the effect of different types of product information on the online purchase intention between the two cultures. The implications for developing an effective (local/global) marketing strategy are discussed.