Digital cues guiding unfamiliar product choices on Turkish e-commerce sites

Abstract

As e-commerce platforms increasingly shape consumer preferences and decisionmaking processes, this thesis investigates how digital cues influence online shopping behavior and how users interpret these cues. This thesis focuses on two Turkish ecommerce platforms, Trendyol and Hepsiburada, which were examined through scenario-based focus group discussions. This thesis focuses on design features of ecommerce interfaces, such as product information, reviews, and layout, and how users connect these elements to trust, risk perception, and decision-making processes. The Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) provides an analytical framework and allows an exploration of how argument quality, personal relevance, responsibility, and prior knowledge shape the processing of persuasive messages through central or peripheral routes. The findings show that participants evaluated products and platforms around trust, uncertainty avoidance, brand value themes. In this way, the thesis demonstrates the impact of digital cues on consumer behavior within the Turkish e-commerce context. It contributes to discussions on how online shopping environments and product presentations can be more transparent, reliable, and user centered.