The authors discuss the motivations for this special issue and propose a conceptual frameworkpertaining to the issue’s theme. Using this frameworkas a backdrop, they then offer an overview of the remaining articles by segmenting them into categories and discussing their relationship to the framework. They conclude by highlighting research avenues for augmenting our understanding of marketing to and serving customers through the Internet. The proliferation of and rapid advances in technologybased systems, especially those related to the Internet, are leading to fundamental changes in how companies interact with one another (business-to-business [B2B] marketing) and with consumers (business-to-consumer [B2C] marketing). The content of most business-related periodicals in the popular press is being increasingly dominated by

Our research aims to detect the impact of various cultural variables on search behaviour. We tested our hypotheses by examining users' navigation steps recorded in a large logfile of a widely frequented multilingual website. Results indicate that the users' culturally determined thinking patterns are reflected in their search behaviour, mainly by the selection of search options that are used for information retrieval.

A user-centric approach to identifying best deployment strategies for language tools: the impact of content and access language on Web user behaviour and attitudes