Designing a checklist for an e-commerce website using Kansei engineering

Abstract

Usability has played a big role in refining the design of a website. Effective design of e-commerce web interfaces potentially increases perceived trust of its consumers. It is thus critical that e-commerce designers understand usability issues pertaining to e-commerce. However, usability looks only at functionalities and we have moved beyond usability towards user's emotions. The purpose of this study is to design a preliminary checklist using Kansei Engineering for an e-commerce perspective, which can contribute towards trust and purchase intention of consumers in the Malaysia context. A usability evaluation method was conducted, Feedback Capture after Task (FCAT) using the URANUS tool. It was performed on an online gift shop with a group of potential consumers with age range of 18-22. Using Kansei Engineering, we manage to extract words that are mentioned by the users, in which we have categorized it as per Kansei Concept. There are four categories, namely aesthetic, physical, sensational and operational. This research is deemed important in which future web designers could use as a guideline to design an e-commerce website that focuses on perceived trust and purchase intentions based on Kansei Engineering. © 2013 Springer International Publishing.