The role of experiential value in online shopping The impacts of product presentation on consumer responses towards an apparel

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine whether Pine and Gilmore's four experience realms (4Es) are affected by web site features; the 4Es affect consumer emotional components of pleasure and arousal; and pleasure and arousal lead to enhanced web site patronage intention. Design/methodology/approach - For the main experiment, two stimulus web sites reflecting high experiential value and low experiential value were developed. Data were collected in a laboratory setting from 196 participants. An analysis of the causal model was conducted using the maximum-likelihood estimation procedure of Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS) for hypotheses testing. Findings - Using AMOS, the results indicated that web site features affected the 4Es and three of the 4Es (entertainment, escapist and esthetic experiences) influenced pleasure and/or arousal. Pleasure, arousal, entertainment, and esthetic experiences had direct effects on web site patronage intention. Practical implications - The results present an effective way to offer experiential value, which enhances web site patronage intention, to online retailers. Originality/value - This is the first empirical research to investigate the holistic process of the effects of product presentation on consumer responses towards an apparel web site that there is a clear need for further study.