Creative Commons

This dissertation was written as a part of the MSc in e-Business, Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the International Hellenic University. More and more e-commerce websites are using animation due to intense competition in order to stimulate web users’ interest. But what is the impact of moving animation on consumer perceptions towards the web page? Is this interaction affected by users’ online shopping behavior, which can be either utilitarian or hedonic? While it has been studied extensively its effect on banner-ads, it is not clear its consequences on non banner- ads e-commerce web pages. This research tries to answer these questions by studying how interface aesthetics and shopping task can influence consumers’ perceived ease of use, satisfaction, entertainment and loyalty, by manipulating the aspect of animation. This experimental research proves that animation can enhance perceived aesthetics and entertainment but there were not enough evidence to support any main effect of animation on perceived ease of use, satisfaction and loyalty. Moreover, it is not supported an interaction effect of animation and shopping behavior on consumers’ perceptions. Some theoretical and managerial implications are discussed at the end of this paper.