Web as a customer communication channel in the confectionery industry in South Eastern European countries

Purpose - The main purpose of the paper is to investigate and to document the current level of web usage within the confectionery industry in the South Eastern European (SEE) region. Also, the paper aims to examine the web content structure of confectioners in the given region and to explain the impact of the location and the size of the company on the quality of contents published on web sites. Design/methodology/approach - The experimental research was conducted on the sample of 333 companies in the confectionery industry from 5 SEE countries. The research questionnaire included 56 web sites' characteristics divided into five categories. Findings - The confectionery industry uses web sites as "presentation space" only, and the "show-case" is the main purpose. The implementation of the web in the confectionery industry in SEE countries is correlated with a company's characteristics. Companies within EU member countries more often implement the web as a customer communication channel. However, confectioners in non-EU countries have more information published on their web sites and their web sites are more interactive. Originality/value - The paper contributes to a better understanding of web usage within the confectionery industry because it classifies information published on web sites into several categories and describes common web contents in the confectionery industry. Moreover, it discusses the correlation between a company's characteristics (size and location) and web implementation. Finally, it gives an overview of relevant findings of web usage as a customer communication channel within transitional economies.