This research contributes to our knowledge of web design aesthetics
and to design practices that facilitate preference responses
and successful online shopping experiences. Theoretically, it applies
theories and findings drawn from prior research on environmental
aesthetics, environmental psychology and HCI to the
aesthetic design of e-commerce web pages. It suggests a new research
perspective on e-commerce web atmospherics with a focus
on webpage Order and Complexity as important aesthetic features.
The study integrates the disparate fields of HCI and e-commerce
research by delineating the physical design features of webpage
Order and Complexity and relating them to the subjective aesthetic
perceptions of and user preferences for e-commerce web pages. It
extends the existing research by providing understanding of the
interaction effect between webpage Order and Complexity for realizing
optimal aesthetic design of e-commerce webpage. Furthermore,
the findings of this study are consistent with prior
research findings regarding the effect of shopping motivational orientations
on consumers’ responses to the shopping environments
(Solomon 2002, Neal et al. 2004). This research highlights the
important role of users’ shopping motivational orientations in
determining their aesthetic preferences for e-commerce web
pages. It adds to the existing body of literature on e-commerce
consumer behaviour by emphasizing shopping motivational orientation
as an important factor to explain perceptions of e-commerce
web pages.