Title: Maturity in the websites of Australian wineries: a study of varying website content

Authors: Stephen Burgess, Carmine Sellitto, Andrew Wenn

Addresses: School of Information Systems, Victoria University, Australia. ' School of Information Systems, Victoria University, Australia. ' School of Information Systems, Victoria University, Australia

Abstract: This paper examines the longitudinal development of 86 Australian winery websites over a two-year period. Wineries, like many Australian businesses, have websites that offer a range of facilities for the consumer: information provision, online ordering, and community participation. The 2002 study, when contrasted with a study conducted two years earlier, has unearthed some trends in the development of Australian winery websites. Other features have been introduced to encourage more visitors to the winery. More wineries offered the chance for customers to purchase their offerings over the internet. However, this was not generally accomplished by using an interactive sales feature; it was by providing a form to print out and fax to the winery. In general, it appeared that there was some maturity developing in the websites of Australian wineries over the period of the study.

Keywords: Australia; website content; wineries; longitudinal study; winery websites; internet; e-business; electronic business; maturity; information provision; ordering; sales; online community; web-based communities.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEB.2005.008521

International Journal of Electronic Business, 2005 Vol.3 No.5, pp.473 - 490

Published online: 28 Dec 2005 *

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