Impact of online product presentation on sales: the effects of text-image introductory information and celebrity endorsements
Journal of Product & Brand Management
ISSN: 1061-0421
Article publication date: 22 June 2023
Issue publication date: 27 November 2023
Abstract
Purpose
Product presentation plays a critical role in influencing consumers’ purchasing decisions in online shopping. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of text-image information on online product presentation pages on sales. This study also specifically explores the moderating role of celebrity endorsements in the relationship between text-image presentation information and sales.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is based on regression analysis using data sets from the largest online book retailer in China, Dangdang.com.
Findings
The results of this study show that there is an inverse U-shaped relationship between word count and book sales. Conversely, image quantity has a positive linear effect on book sales. Furthermore, celebrity endorsements moderate the relationship between word count and sales in two distinct ways. First, the positive effect of increasing word count from low to medium is enlarged by increasing the number of celebrity endorsers. Second, the turning point of the inverse-U relationship between word count and sales rank moves to the right as the number of endorsers increases.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first to examine the effects of text-image quantity on sales across the full continuum. This study adds understanding on how information load might have distinct consequences on the processing performance of text and images. Furthermore, this study investigates how sales are impacted by the quantity of celebrity endorsers in relation to textual and pictorial information in online shopping contexts, extending our knowledge of the effectiveness of celebrity endorsements.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Liu’s research is supported in part by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 72102249). It is also supported in part by Program for Innovation Research in Central University of Finance and Economics. Wu’s research is supported in part by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 72202051, 72121001, 72293562). It is also supported in part by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. HIT.HSS.202203).
Funding: This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grants 72102249, 72202051,72121001 and 72293562, Program for Innovation Research in Central University of Finance and Economics, the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant Number HIT.HSS.202203).
Declaration of interest statement: No potential conflict of interest is reported by the authors.
Citation
Liu, L., Wu, S. and Cai, G. (2023), "Impact of online product presentation on sales: the effects of text-image introductory information and celebrity endorsements", Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 32 No. 8, pp. 1220-1232. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-08-2022-4109
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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