Abstract: Based on heuristic-systematic model(HSM), this paper attempts to develop a framework for investigating consumers’ information processing mechanism(heuristic or systematic)in the context of the network and verify their tendency of saving mental resources 2 × 2× 2 × 2 online shopping experiment model which simulates the real context is designed to analyze consumers’ evaluation to products The results show that the tendency of saving cognitive effort, decision-making clues and decision-making scenarios are the main factors to the decision-making process Consumers still tend to save cognitive cost, and their process follow the rule of balancing the cognitive effort and decision-making confidence Only if the low cost heuristic processing approach cannot meet consumers’ information processing needs, will consumers implement high cost systematic information processing

Key words: online shopping, heuristic-systematic model, product attribute, personal involvement