Shaping e-retailer’s website personality: The importance of experiential marketing

This research investigates how offering experiential values by an online retailer affects the personality of the e-retailer’s website in consumers’ minds. It empirically studies the impacts of four experiential value types – aesthetics, playfulness, customer return on investment (CROI), and service excellence – on each of the five website personality dimensions of enthusiasm, genuineness, solidity, sophistication, and pleasantness. The findings confirm the overall model and the majority of the hypothesized relationships are significant. The findings show that e-retailers should use appropriate combinations of experiential values to portray their desired website personalities.

► Each dimension of e-retailer’s personality improved by providing experiential values.
► Service excellence was the only dimension to impact all personality dimensions.
► Personality traits (solidity, genuineness) improved only through service excellence.
► The second most influential experiential value was aesthetics.