The web in marketing : information cue usage in two commercial domains

The study reported in this paper involves a comparison of Resnik & Stern’s (e.g., 1977) information cue usage in websites registered in two commercial domains of the World Wide Web (Web)—.com (global domain managed by VeriSign) and .com.au (a country domain, auDomain, managed by the Australian Domain Name Administrator—AUDA). The hypothesised higher use of information cues by digital marketers with .com registered domain names relative to .com.au registered domain names is not supported. Examination of the audited websites in the two-domain comparison confirms that the Web provides a richer marketing communication medium than other media analysed in a meta-analysis of 117 datasets by Abernethy & Franke (1996). The study is important given the acknowledged influence of advertising information on consumer responses to ads and the brands they relate, to both in traditional and new media (Aaker & Stayman, 1990; Brown & Stayman, 1992; Bruner & Kumar, 2000).