Visual Cues and Repeat Purchase: A Cue Utilization Perspective

This conceptual paper develops a multidimensional framework explaining how storefront visual cues shape online repurchase intention in Chinese e-commerce. Existing studies have often examined individual website features separately and focused mainly on initial purchase decisions, offering limited insight into how the overall visual environment supports repeat patronage. Drawing on Cue Utilization Theory, the framework posits that consumers use storefront cues to infer a platform's quality, credibility, usefulness, and shopping value when product attributes cannot be directly inspected. Six visual cues are incorporated. Social presence, novelty, interactivity, enjoyment, and vividness are proposed to strengthen online repurchase intention by reducing uncertainty, improving product evaluation, increasing perceived control, and creating a more engaging shopping experience. Intrusiveness is expected to weaken repurchase intention because disruptive, attention-grabbing design elements reduce consumer autonomy and undermine platform credibility. By integrating experiential, interactive, informational, and disruptive cues into a single framework, the paper extends the fragmented treatment of online visual presentation and shifts attention from initial conversion to sustained consumer-platform relationships. The framework provides hypotheses for future empirical testing and offers practical guidance for e-commerce platforms seeking to design storefronts that promote informed decisions, trust, and repeat purchasing.

Chinese e-commerce, Cue Utilization Theory, online repurchase intention, storefront visual cues, visual presentation

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