Evaluating web interfaces of B2C e-commerce systems for typical agrifood products

E-commerce and geographical typicity of agrifood products are two leverages for the economic development of a lagging rural region where agribusiness is a leading sector of its economy. However, an effective response to this challenge much depends on how typical products are marketed through the internet to an international audience. This paper introduces a methodology for evaluating web interfaces of e-commerce systems of agrifood SMEs operating in an lagging rural region. The methodology has been applied to a regional survey where it considered a sample of SMEs located in Calabria, a South Italy region. The collected data has been statistically analysed in order to get results on levels of B2C e-commerce adoption. A particular study is addressed to a classification of e-commerce interfaces depending on both SME's stage in the industry and the way how SME's 'typical producer' status is perceived by potential customers.