Trying to answer this fundamental question has prompted much research in academic and business circles. Poor e-commerce sites can lose up to half of their potential sales and 40 per cent of their return visitors if customers experience difficulties finding products. Two problems are that customers are being asked to fill in too much information, and they cannot find the products they are looking for. It might require too many clicks to get to the information they want: up to 80 per cent of customers leave a site without buying for this reason. Therefore, easy navigation and ease of use are often the most important features of a Web site.

It is not the technology that gets in the way of progress, but complicated and difficult to use designs that are stopping businesses realize the full return on investment from their Web sites. This might be happening not because of the computer systems that are being used, but because people are trying to use designs that they either do not feel comfortable with, or in many cases do not understand. One of the main problems is that the people who design these sites are too close to the business and have forgotten what it is like to be a novice. When customers come to a Web site they do not understand the business, they do not know the product catalogue, but they do come for a reason, and many companies do not design their sites to support what users are trying to do. In addition it seems that the language that is being used can be complicated, contradictory or simply missing, leaving the user unsure how to proceed. So even if customers find something they want to buy, they still will not buy it because the information is not there to make them feel comfortable enough to hand over their credit card number.

Trust is a real issue. There are many factors that can build and break down consumer trust. A strong brand can be very useful in bringing to the site people with a positive mindset, but this mindset can easily be broken if a Web site behaves in an unexpected manner. The model for buying on the Web in the customer's mind is very similar to buying in a normal shop. If a shop assistant starts asking for personal details before the customer is ready to buy, the customer would be very surprised, probably feel uncomfortable and more than likely walk out of the shop. Another 'trustbuster' is where sites try to conceal information and 'opt-ins' from the customer. A common 'opt-in' is where customers are required to click a box to ensure they are not placed on a mailing list. This kind of thing might seem a clever ploy to increase the chance of selling more products, but it is definitely seen as trickery by users and causes all sorts of brand damage.