The role of interface in electronic commerce: Consumer involvement with print versus on-line catalogs

The theory of interface involvement is used to analyze the influence of physical-medium and content presentation interfaces on consumer response. Consumer responses to print and Web-based catalog stimuli are examined. The results support interface-involvement theory, which holds that a print physical-medium interface is more effective than a Web-based physical-medium interface in stimulating consumer involvement with retailer offerings and a positive consumer response. They also indicate that media vividness and other elements of the content-presentation interface employable on a Web site stimulate higher levels of consumer involvement with retailer offerings and a more positive consumer response than a content-presentation interface of direct on-line replication of printed material. The implications for academics and practitioners are discussed.