Abstract
The present paper is based on the results of seven consumer focus groups developed in Spain. The results are interpreted using an ethnographic summary of each focus group (qualitative approach) and a systematic coding procedure (quantitative approach). The research pursued two major objectives. Firstly, to identify the key design variables for building a successful transactional small and medium enterprises (SME) website. Secondly, the transactional relevance of each key design variable was tested in order to establish priorities according to Spanish online buyers’ preferences. The findings indicate that a SME transactional website should have three main strong points: 1 it must be secure 2 price information should be provided 3 a wide range of images should be shown. But not all these factor are equally important. The focus group methodology is presented as an extremely economic and useful technique in providing a better understanding of successful website design. This methodology underlines the need to build websites which meet consumer needs.
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