Forming trust between a consumer and an online store

Abstract

Trusting an online store is required for a consumer to make a purchase decision. This means they give an online vendor their information and money in exchange for an expectation of service or a product they may not get in their hands immediately. Instead the product is usually delivered to the customer in one way or another. Forming enough trust between a consumer and an online store for a transaction to happen is a complex web of minor factors that affect how an individual consumer perceives the trustworthiness of an online store. The research is conducted as a literature review. This thesis focuses on the four identified main factors of forming trust in an online store, preconception, online store design, user experience and perceived risk and understanding why they are important. The main factors are aspects that a business can affect and as such better their business practices. But it is also good to remember that not all things that form trust can be controlled, cyber security and hacking news that sour the public's view of online store trustworthiness. Aside the main factors, the most prevalent subfactors in this research were the importance of brand recognition and how much it helps to be a big name in the e-commerce industry. Also the perceived quality of a web site and the familiarity of the design tie in closely with the brand recognition. For example the use of brand colors and logos has a surprisingly big impact in perceived trustworthiness of a store.