Fostering Purchasing Intention: The Influence of Appearance and Functionality on Consumers’ Initial Trust in a web Vendor

In the highly competitive e-commerce environment, a large portion of the web vendors are new, small, or lack name recognition. When a customer visits an unknown vendor, the website needs to provide signals that it is trustworthy, or the customer may not complete a transaction. This research investigates how vendors may signal trustworthiness through features of the website. We examine how to win consumers’ trust through examining appearance and...