A study of consumer preferences for e-retailers’ attributes: an application of conjoint analysis

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to determine and analyse consumer preferences regarding the profiles of an e-retailer’s website. Two types of products are examined to test whether there are differences in the individuals’ preferences. We conduct an initial study, from which we identify the principal attributes valued by the participants in the survey. These attributes are then used to design the profiles for the conjoint analysis. The variables that are most relevant to the shopping task are those which receive a higher response frequency. There are differences in the relative importance assigned to the attributes, depending on the product type, but no significant differences are found in the participants’ preferences when these are analysed according to gender or previous experience of online shopping.