While the place element of the marketing mix can be accomplished by the distributor and retailers in traditional marketing, this element in the context of e-marketing can occur through the businesses’ web sites. This presents businesses opportunities for the “manufacturer direct-to-customer” approach (Kalyanam & McIntyre, 2002). Just as the attributes of the distributor, its speed and image, and the way the products are presented to the customers, are important in the distribution channel in traditional marketing, the web site of a business that partially fulfills the duties of the distribution channel online is equally important. For instance, Chen and Lee (2005) found in their study that the image of the web site had an impact on purchasing behaviors and intention of the customers. Teo and Lim (2000), on the other hand, found that compared to males, females attached more significance to animation and multimedia features such as sound effects and background music.
Dabholkar and Sheng (2009) carried out a study on the control perceived in consumer reactions and the role of gender and their effects on the download delays among university students in the United States. According to the findings ofthis study, there were gender differences in the attitudes towards the download delays. Accordingly, males were less tolerant of online delay and focused more on download speeds. Therefore, when a download delay occurs, males easily switch from the existing site to another one. Based on this information, it is possible to say that the positive effects of the perceived speed of the web site on consumers’ attitudes and intentions are more powerful among males in comparison to females. While males react directly to the download delays, females do not pay much attention to a slow process as much as males. However, if this slow process makes fe-
males feel a loss of control, they react negatively. The findings of this study demonstrate that the males’ reaction was based on the perception of speed and the females’ reaction was based on the feeling of control and assurance throughout the process. Therefore, e-marketers have to focus on minimizing the download delays of the web sites whose users are predominantly males. In order to accomplish this, complicated and rich web site content may have to be sacrificed. It is only in this way that positive reactions to the web sites can be elicited from male online users. For the web sites whose users are predominantly females, e — marketers may produce web sites with rich content. Soothing colors, relaxing music and information on delays for female online users, even though they may cause delays, may be used. Even after one delay, female online users will not have the feeling of the loss of control.
There are also gender-based differences regarding the duration of web site visits. For instance, in their study, in which they examined the factors affecting the web site visit duration, Daneher et al. (2006) found that females had a tendency to visit web sites for longer periods of time compared to males. The reason for this difference is rooted in the fact that female consumers pay greater attention to details and wish to be better informed. The fact that female consumers spend more time on browsing a web page in order to search more before they make up their minds for purchasing something reveals that female consumers go through a more intensive process of information gathering (Brunel & Nelson, 2003). Brain lateralization and attributes reveal gender-based differences in terms of information gathering and assessment. Therefore, females will presumably assess a web site in greater detail, while males will presumably think about an e-commerce site in terms of global attitude. The reason why males are perfectly satisfied with their online shopping behavior is that the information processing and emotionality in the right hemisphere of the brain has a great role to play in holistic assessment. On the other hand, the fact that females process information in their left brain hemisphere and therefore more detailed assessments affecting females’ feelings about web sites are made compared to males cause females to have lower emotional gratification from online shopping (Rodgers & Harris, 2003).