That׳s different! How consumers respond to retail website change

•Task relevant changes evoke generally negative emotional consequences.•Non-task relevant changes evoke generally positive emotional consequences.•Experience with the web-site prior to change plays a key moderating role.

Change is an inevitability faced by retail managers with regard to their online presence, yet the impact of retail website change on consumers remains unknown. In this study, two types of retail website change are distinguished – task-relevant and non-task-relevant – and their impact on consumer emotion is examined. Results from an online experiment suggest that consumers’ perceptions of both types of change have distinct impacts on their emotional responses, although the effects differ between the types of change. Moreover, previous experience with the website is shown to have a key moderating role in the response to change.