Exploring how different ages of consumers shop on women's fashion retail websites

Boardman, R and McCormick, H (2023) Exploring how different ages of consumers shop on women's fashion retail websites. International Journal of Human Computer Studies, 177. 103064. ISSN 1071-5819

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Abstract

Purpose: This paper explores the differences in behaviour of 50 shoppers aged 20–69 on a women's fashion retail website to address whether older users behave differently to younger users when shopping online. Method: An eye-tracking experiment and qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 50 female participants, aged 20–69, comparing ‘younger’, ‘mid’ and ‘older’ consumers. Findings: Compared to younger users, older users took longer to navigate the website and spent longer on web pages. They had more scattered viewing patterns, looked at the thumbnail images in less detail as they scrolled, used the search bar less and selected more options to refine their search. Originality: An increasing number of older users now shop online. However, ecommerce research is often based on younger users. This study fills a gap in the literature by providing a rich understanding of whether older users behave differently to younger users when shopping online, and whether standard fashion retail website designs are excluding older users. The findings have practical implications for fashion ecommerce websites targeting different ages.