The Influence of Culture in Product Form Preference as Momentary Experience in Online Shopping

Abstract

Today, the online market is showing an increasing growth. Considering the online market is dependent on the visual aspect on screen, the appearance is more influential to the consumer than any other design elements. With a global connection of online market, it is possible to buy a product across different countries. However, considering the different characteristics of consumers, it may not be ideal to sell products in one form. Therefore, the study aims to identify what form is most preferred and how consumer characteristics are related to the preference. First, types of form were defined for the study: stereotypical form, pure metaphorical form and story-driven metaphorical form. An online experimental tool, called paired comparison was developed. Through a mechanical Turk platform, we recruited 177 respondents: 50 from Germany, 50 from the United States, and 77 from South Korea. The results indicate context-driven metaphorical form was most preferred. And no significant difference was identified between three types of form in terms of demographical variables such as age and gender. © 2020, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.