The Relative Importance of Website Design Quality and Service Quality in Determining Consumers’ Online Repurchase Behavior Tao Zhou, Yaobin Lu and Bin Wang

2010, Information Systems Management
2012
The Relative Importance of Website Design Quality and Service Quality in Determining Consumers’ Online Repurchase Behavior Tao Zhou, Yaobin Lu and Bin Wang

2010, Information Systems Management
2012

Analysis of “The Relative Importance of Website Design Quality and Service Quality in Determining Consumers’ Online Repurchase Behavior”
Buying products and services on the Internet has become more popular worldwide. According to Zhou, Lu and Wang, (2009), over 298 million people use the Internet with 24.8 percent of these people making online purchases (p. 327). Website design quality and service quality are both important, but how do these affect consumer behavior? Website design definitely affects the first purchase of an item as customers as they eagerly decide to buy or decide not to buy, but what factors determine whether customers continue to buy? Website design quality is important because attracts customers to keep coming back to the website whether it is a simple thank you to keeping track of customer orders that have become complicated. Website design quality attracts customers to the website while service quality makes a difference by taking care of the service needs of the customer. Zhou, Lu, and Wang (2009) hypothesis that “compared with website design quality, service quality has a stronger effect on consumers’ satisfaction” (p. 329). The analysis will support the hypothesis that service quality is important in consumer behavior in repurchasing different products because trust is a key concept.
Web design quality and service quality are both important to websites. The article, “The Relative Importance of Website Design Quality and Service Quality in Determining Consumers’ Online Repurchase Behavior” by Tao Zhou, Yaobin Lu, & Bin Wang (2009) discuss the importance of website design quality and service quality in determining consumers’ online repurchase behaviors. Website design quality is important because it is usually what the customer sees when first seeing the sight and often determines whether the customer buys a product or service. Zhou, Lu and Wang (2009) state that website design quality include the appearance of the website, the layout of the website, the navigation of the website, information about the website, and information about the vendor (p. 328). While website design is important in obtaining the first order, service quality often determines whether a second order will be placed. Service by the vendor and trust are important in obtaining further orders. Vendor’s capability and trust are important in building future orders and in building the party’s positive future expectation of the website (Zhou, Lu and Wang, 2009, p. 328). Website design quality is important in the purchase, but service quality is important in building trust and long-term relationships. Service quality is what keeps the buyer coming back to the website to repurchase items. The hypothesis of Zhou, Lu, and Wang is that service quality has a stronger effect on consumers’ satisfaction than website design quality. It is important to see how key concepts, such as trust and reliability play a role with these.
It is important to look at some key concepts of the article and how they play a role in the article. Trust is a key concept in the article. Zhou, Lu, & Wang (2009) discuss that a website provides service that has satisfying services and expectations it engenders trust (p. 329). This trust will then create a consumer behavior that allows the customer to return to the site to repurchase from the site. When a vendor fails to meet the expectation, then the consumer will not trust and the result will be the consumer will not return to the website. An example can be seen when a young mother wanted to purchase a pair of costume shoes online. She ordered the shoes hoping they were the right size and color to match a Tangled outfit for her daughter. When she got the dress, she was pleased with the shoes. On another purchase with a different company, she ordered shoes for a Cinderella outfit and she received the wrong size. The company failed to work with her. She never received the right shoes. She finally received her money back after several weeks and after the party was over. She continues to order shoes and products from the first company, but she refuses to try the second company. She has trust in the first company. Zhou, Lu and Wang (2009) state, “Consumers expect a website to product satisfying products or services” (p. 329). When the company fails to do so and the service fails, the consumer does not build trust. Trust is an important concept. Satisfaction to the customer is also important. The attitude of the customer is often affected by what happens with customer service. Responsiveness is another key concept. Companies must be prompt in handling complaints. Putting forth effort to help the woman with the shoes would have made a difference in having a return customer. Service quality affects whether a customer is satisfied and whether the consumer will return to repurchase more products. The authors continually stress the importance of service quality. An analysis of the article will show the authors were right on how important service quality is to consumer behavior.
Web design and service quality plays an important role in today’s economy. Google, eBay, and many different websites are popular with people. People go to different websites to find a variety of products and services to buy online. People even read the news online from newspapers, such as The New York Times, Google News, New Yorker, to a multitude of other products (Bercovici, 2011). The Internet has become the popular place to go to buy things with people buying groceries, pet food, medicine, and vitamins online (Winbald, 2000, p. 151). Web design is important in making decisions in purchasing products (Zhou, Lu, and Wang, 2009, p. 327). The problem is that often websites deceive people and trust is broken causing people to question their decisions in purchasing products online. In the example above, the woman was unhappy because she did not receive the shoes until after the party. Customers who fail to receive the product cannot build trust in a website that fails to deliver the service. Customer service and quality service is important to every website. A website can have a fabulous web design, but if they have poor service quality the company will not last long. Service quality is important and building trusting website is important to people. Zhou, Lu and Wang understand the importance of service quality and how it consumer behavior in regards to online purchases. Their article shows that trust in the service quality is important to consumers because it affects whether they are satisfied and whether they will want to continue a relationship with different websites. Fan and Tsai (2010) state, “The explosive development of the Internet has changed the shopping habits of consumers” (1141). Personalized service is important to the customer while taking care of their needs so they will continue to return to shop. Building trust in the relationship with the customer so that they will want to continue to trust the website. While the website design will entice the customer to make the first purchase, it is the service quality that will build the trust to entice the customer to return. An accurate on-time delivery date, accurate order, and prompt response to customer inquiries are important service qualities that customers want. If these needs are not met, website design is not as important. Quality, dependability, reliability, and trust are important to customers that play a role in customer behaviors. Consider this example: A customer may buy a product from a website that is new like Jeannie Shoes, but for the customer to keep purchasing products the customer has to trust the website. The authors point out the importance of service quality to keep customers happy. If a customer purchased a product from Jeannie shoes, service quality would include giving quality service by taking care of any problems, answering any questions, fast service, and answering any questions about the product. Service quality has a strong effect on customer’s satisfaction and consumer behavior when it comes to repurchasing products. Perceived quality and credibility are important to the customer (Wells, Valacich, & Hess, 2011, p. 373). Service quality is even more important than price of an item because customers are often willing to pay more for customer service and reputation of the vendor. Zhou, Lu, and Wang are able to show that customer service has a strong effect on customers’ satisfaction and how customers are willing to continue to buy products at websites when they trust different websites.
The analysis of the article supports Zhou, Lu and Wang’s hypothesis that service quality has a stronger effect on consumer satisfaction than website design quality. While website design quality is important for website sales, service quality is important for repeat sales. Website design quality attracts customers and often is the first step to obtaining first sales. Service quality is important because customers need trust in building lasting relationships in repeat sales. More households in the United States and China are buying products and services using the Internet so understanding the importance of consumer behavior is important. The authors did a great job showing how important service quality is to a website. Any website can have a fantastic web design, but if they have poor customer service they will not last long. Repeat business depends on customer service and quality service. Offering good service starts with customer service and trust. Customers want personalized service and understanding that their needs are going to be met. Service quality determines whether a consumer will repurchase from a website.

Works Cited
Bercovici, J. (2011). Google saves the news. Forbes. 187, 90-92.
Fan, W. & Tsai, M. Factors driving website success- the key role of Internet customization and the influence of website design quality and Internet marketing strategy. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence. 21 11, 1141-1159.
Winbald, A. (2000). Betting on a sure thing. 165, 165.
Wells, J., Valacich, J., & Hess, T. (2011). What signal are you sending? How website quality influences perceptions of product quality and purchase intentions. MIS Quarterly. 35 2, 373-A18.
Zhou, T., Lu, Yaobin, & Wang, B. (2010). The relative importance of website design quality and service quality in determining consumers’ online repurchase behavior. Information Systems Management. 26 4, 327-337.