Building presence in an online shopping website: the role of website quality

This study explores how sellers’ website quality influences buyers’ perceived presence, which in turn affects website identification and purchase intention. The results of a conceptual model, with data collected from TaoBao, demonstrate that information and service quality are positively related to social presence, and system and service quality are positively related to telepresence. Furthermore, information and service quality increase website identification, but system quality does not. Finally, social presence positively affects website identification and purchase intention, while telepresence only positively affects website identification. These results bridge the research gap about the formation of presence in an online shopping context.