Pre-Purchase Intentions of Consumers: based on Flow Theory and Navigational Characteristics of Websites

As the number of Internet users continues to increase, opportunities for online shopping continue to expand as well. The Internet has become an important channel for companies to provide product information and offer direct sales to their customers. Firms of all sizes and from all industries have invested in Internet applications and try to establish a net presence. However, online sales volumes remain relatively low compared to traditional retailing. This study suggests variables that influence Consumers’ pre-purchase intentions for a website when they use the internet to search information in Iran. The model of consumers’ web navigational behavior designed by Richard and Chandra are taken into account to empirically test. The data were collected from the homepage of an Iranian site and a snowball technique was used. For testing hypotheses, structural equation modeling was conducted. The findings indicate what type of Consumers with different skill, challenge, need for cognition, optimum stimulation level, etc. are more likely to search product- related information from the internet.