The authors consider the role of gender as it relates to e-commerce
and offer a conceptual framework that attempts to explain why women are
less satisfied than men with the online shopping experience. Perceived
emotional benefits are discussed as a primary reason women lack support
for e-commerce activity. Additional concepts in our model include trust
(i.e., skepticism) and practicality (i.e., convenience). Our survey
findings revealed that these three concepts—emotion, trust, and
convenience—predicted women's dissatisfaction (and
men's satisfaction) with online shopping, as well as men and
women's actual shopping behavior. The authors offer ideas to help
e-marketers form stronger emotional bonds with female shoppers.