Title: The background colour of online retailing and cognitive and emotional responses of consumers: an experimental study

Authors: Manijeh Bahrainizad

Addresses: Faculty of Business and Economics School, Persian Gulf University, 7516913817, Bushehr, Iran

Abstract: One of the atmospheric factors of a website is colour, which is a solid element to attract visitors. This study aims to measure the effect of background colour on online retailers' websites on consumers' responses. This study is an experimental method based on the post-test design and performed online. For this experiment, laptop retailing websites with different background colour statuses based on hue, saturation, and brightness were designed and a convenience sample randomly visited these retailers. Data analysis have performed through ANOVA analysis. The findings indicate that the background colour of online retailers based on the hue, saturation level, and brightness can cause different cognitive responses and arousal emotions in people but does not create a distinct pleasure emotion. In this study, we answer some of the ambiguities about the effect of online retailing background colour on consumers' cognitive reaction, arousal and pleasure emotion. The paper contributes valuable research suggestions for both practitioners of online stores and marketing academics.

Keywords: background colour; online retailing; cognitive reaction; arousal emotion; pleasure emotion.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEMR.2024.138296

International Journal of Electronic Marketing and Retailing, 2024 Vol.15 No.3, pp.288 - 307

Received: 20 Oct 2021
Accepted: 02 Jun 2022
Published online: 01 May 2024 *

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