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Abstract
A total of twelve companies marketing specialty food and drink products on the World Wide Web were identified for this study. Four each marketed coffee, salsa, and seafood. Over a three week period, 163 respondents completed a total of 973 site evaluations. While respondents preferred to purchase products from a retail store, the majority identified at least one product from the sites which they would likely purchase on-line in the next six months. Respondents who regularly purchase one of the products monthly or more often were significantly more likely to make an on-line purchase in the future than those who purchase the product less frequently. Respondents who rated the overall appeal of a company's WWW site as good or excellent were nearly six times as likely to say that they would be likely to purchase the product on-line than those who rated the site as fair or poor. While no single site characteristic stood out relative to the others as having a major influence on increasing the likelihood of making an on-line purchase, insufficient company and/or product information reduced consumers' willingness to purchase on-line and by mail order.