Comparing Online and Non-Online Shoppers

126

International Journal of Consumer Studies

27

2 March 2003 pp126ndash133

copy 2003 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Blackwell Science LtdOxford UKJCSInternational Journal of Consumer Studies0309-3891Blackwell Publishing Ltd 200327Original Article

Comparing online and non-online

SL Lokken

et al

Correspondence

Sheri L Lokken School of Human Sciences PO Box 9745 Mississippi State MS 39762 USA E-mail slokkenhumanscimsstateedu

Comparing online and non-online shoppers

Sheri L Lokken Ginger Wigington Cross Linda K Halbert Gail Lindsey Christy Derby and Carla Stanford

School of Human Sciences Mississippi State University MS USA

Abstract

A web-based survey was completed by 130 faculty and staff

from a university located in the south-eastern United States

The purposes of this study were to investigate (a) consumer

characteristics related to online shopping (b) benefits of

online shopping as perceived by online shoppers and (c)

concerns about online shopping as perceived by non-online

shoppers Responses were analysed using SPSS for tests

of chi-square Findings suggest that the differences

between online shoppers and non-online shoppers corre-

spond with Rogersrsquo

1

categories of adopters and that the

educational needs of consumers also differ based on their

previous experience with online shopping

Keywords

E-commerce

consumer empowerment

web-

based survey

Introduction

The Internet has changed the way in which consumerssearch for information about products and services Online shopping has offered new opportunities to con-sumers but also has posed new threats Consumers arecontinuing to adapt to this new technology at high rates It is projected that Internet access will reach 75 of allUS households by 2005 and 90 of US households by2010

2

These rates are slower than predicted due in partto the declining US economy Currently adoption ratesare increasing at much more rapid rates in Europeancountries

3

The purpose of this study was threefold (a) to deter -mine which consumer characteristics are related toonline shopping (b) to investigate the benefi ts of onlineshopping as perceived by online shoppers and (c) toexamine the concerns that non-online shoppers have

about online shopping Five university students and afamily and consumer sciences researcher conducted aweb-based survey to answer these questions The resultsof this study will help consumer science professionalsand consumer educators to understand trends in con-sumer buying behaviour over the Internet and targettraining and educational programmes for different con-sumer groups better

Background

US online retail sales experienced substantial changesin the fi rst few years of the twenty-fi rst century Someonline retailers went out of business while others real-ized that marketing their products via the World WideWeb was a necessity According to the National RetailFederation the number of US retailers with commercialweb sites increased 300 from 1996 to 1998

4

and thisnumber has continued to increase but at a slower rate

56

The number of Internet shoppers has also increasednow estimated at 21 million

7

According to a report byErnst and Young

8

74 of all US consumers purchasedonline in 2000 An online study of 39 000 consumers byeCommerce Pulse showed that 812 of adults withInternet access have purchased online

9

Consumers aremaking more online purchases than ever before andapparel sales surpassed books music and videos for thefirst time in NovemberDecember 2001

7

Ernst andYoung found that even though consumer acceptance ofonline shopping is growing customer dissatisfactionwith pricing shipping and product selection is also onthe increase

8

Even though some of the early projections that phys-ical retail stores would become obsolete

10

or that con-sumers would do the majority of their shopping online

11

have not been realized the projections for online retail-ing continue to be positive According to F orresterResearch 6 of all US retail sales will be conductedonline by 2003

12

and European retailers have continuedto introduce online sites

7



27


127

SL Lokken

et al

bull


According to a study by F orrester Research

2

Euro-pean industries are predicted to experience rapidgrowth in online trade Online sales comprised lt 1 oftotal business trade in 2001 but are predicted to jumpto 22 by 2006 Although the number of US Internetusers has remained stable the number of Europeanusers has increased by 14 in the fi rst half of 2002

13

Online shoppers

According to a study by Harris Interactive

14

the num-ber of browsers (consumers who gather informationonline and purchase offl ine) has remained constant ordeclined whereas the number of online buyers hasincreased steadily The online shopping experience hasbecome more positive for most Previous studies haveshown that higher amounts of Internet use (for non-shopping activities) are associated with an increasedamount of Internet product purchases

15

Studies havealso shown that different products have different levelsof customer acceptance via online shopping

16

E-commerce may lower the initial search costs but raisesthe product examination payment and after -servicecosts

Consumer compliments and concerns

According to online-shopping consumers some of theperceived advantages of shopping online includeamount of product information ease of use speed andconvenience

1417

Although Internet usage continues toincrease there are persistent concerns about the credi-bility and security of online transactions

18ndash21

Accordingto a Forrester Research Group study

22

scepticism aboutbuying online included (a) the need to touch feel andtry a product fi rsthand (48) (b) the lack of compari-son shopping (35) and (c) the desire to speak to astore clerk before purchasing (31) Other concernsinvolved the facilitation of payment and refunds reli-ability customer service and ability to cancel orders

2324

Additional consumer concerns about online shoppingwere found in the 1999 World Wide Internet OpinionSurvey conducted by the Direct Marketing Associa-tion

25

According to the survey 42 of the 1494 partic-ipants cited security as their primary apprehensionabout online shopping Also 18 of the survey partic-

ipants cited privac y issues as a point of concern Accord-ing to Sarah Andrews of the Electronic Privac yInformation Center in Washington DC the US lsquolagsbehinds nearly every other country in online privac yprotection for consumersrsquo

26

Theory of innovations

Rogersrsquo theory of innovations

1

can be useful in explain-ing consumersrsquo adoption of the Internet for shopping He has defi ned fi ve stages in the adoption processknowledge persuasion decision implementation andconfirmation Rogers

1

has also defi ned categories ofadopters innovators early adopters early majority latemajority and laggards According to Rogers

1

innova-tors need to be able to afford the innovation and there-fore are typically consumers with higher incomes higher occupational status and higher levels of educa-tion They are also considered risk takers and tend tobe inner directed in their decision making Early adopt-ers share many of the characteristics of innovators butare more integrated into their social groups than inno-vators The early majority usually enter the market afterbeing infl uenced by an early adopter whom they knowand respect Late majority adopters tend to be lowerincome and older They may be slower to adopt newinnovations because of fi nancial constraints or the factthat they are not directly infl uenced by others in theirsocial group Laggards enter the market after the inno-vation has been well accepted and when few risks arepresent

Research questions

For the purposes of this project the researchers inves-tigated the Internet as an instrument of commerce fromthe consumerrsquo s perspective The following researchquestions were asked (1) What consumer characteris-tics are different between online shoppers (Rogersrsquo

1

innovators early adopters and early majority) and non-online shoppers (Rogersrsquo

1

late majority laggards) (2)What are the benefi ts of online shopping as perceivedby online shoppers (3) What are the perceived risks ofonline shopping as perceived by non-online shoppersFor this study online shoppers were defi ned as consum-ers who had made at least one purchase online Non-online shoppers may have searched for product or


bull

SL Lokken

et al

128


27



service information online but had never made apurchase

Methods

Participants

The population for this study included the faculty andstaff with E-mail addresses of a middle-sized universitylocated in a rural town in the south-eastern region ofthe United States This population was chosen becausethe researchers thought that the participants would bea good representation of online shoppers (ie workingparents with higher income and educational levels thanthe general public) This population was also chosenbecause of resource constraints of this project (ie timeand money) but may be generalizable to similar con-sumers worldwide

Using an offi cial college directory of faculty and staffE-mail addresses the researchers adopted a systematicsampling procedure for randomly selecting the partici-pants The systematic sampling procedure was logisti-cally sounder than simple random sampling given thesize of the population

27

Using the systematic samplingapproach the researchers randomly selected 600 partic-ipants to participate in this descriptive study of Internetuse as it relates to online shopping

Procedure

The researchers chose a web-based survey because itwas the most effi cient method of data collection consid-ering their time and money constraints As this datacollection method required participants to have E-mailand web access to complete the survey it was expectedthat the sample would be more likely to be Internetshoppers than the general population The non-onlineshoppers in this sample were also expected to havemore experience in searching for product and serviceinformation online Researchers thought that this sam-ple would be more helpful in answering the researchquestions than consumers without Internet access

This study was approved by the universityrsquo s Institu-tional Review Board for the Protection of Human Sub-jects (IRB) An E-mail cover letter was designed whichbriefly explained the purpose of the study directed the

participants to a web page that contained the onlinesurvey and assured them of their anonymity The coverletter served as the informed consent required by theIRB Participants were informed that the web pagewould be posted for 7 days The E-mailed letters weresent to the faculty and staff who were selected randomlyfrom the college directory via the systematic samplingprocedure The participants were given 7 days to com-plete the survey and submit it to the researchers elec-tronically After the 7-day period the survey web pagewas deactivated

Instrumentation

The survey included 16 general questions that all par -ticipants were asked to answer These answers provideddemographic information as well as information aboutgeneral online purchasing experiences After the initial16 questions were answered those participants who hadmade purchases via the Internet (online shoppers) wereasked to complete a set of nine additional questionsregarding their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with theirpurchasing experience Those who had never made anonline purchase (non-online shoppers) were asked tocomplete four additional questions regarding their rea-sons for not making purchases via the Internet Aftercompleting the survey participants were thanked fortheir participation and informed that their answerswould be held in the strictest confi dence and used forresearch purposes only

Data analysis

A variety of demographic variables were analysed withchi-square to determine differences between onlineshoppers and non-online shoppers (research question1) Demographic variables investigated included gen-der age ethnicity marital status education level andincome Other variables examined included computeraccess skill level enjoyment of interaction while shop-ping preference for convenience or privac y enjoymentof retail stores previous credit card problems and pref-erence for Internet browsing Descriptive statistics suchas frequencies and means were used to answer researchquestions 2 and 3



27


129

SL Lokken

et al

bull


Results

Sample description

A response rate of 2167 was achieved with 130 par -ticipants completing the survey within the 7-day timeperiod (see Table 1 for details) As expected the sample

of university faculty and staff was a heterogeneouspopulation primarily Caucasian (92) married (80)between the ages of 26 and 55 years (84) and withhigh levels of income and education

Characteristics related to online shopping

Gender age ethnicity marital status education levelincome computer access skill level enjoyment of inter -action while shopping preference for convenience orprivacy enjoyment of retail stores previous credit cardproblems and preference for Internet browsing werecross-tabulated with online shopping experience Chi-square analyses indicated that age (

c

2

=

673 df

=

2

P

pound

005) self-reported skill level (

c

2

=

2274 df

=

2

P

pound

001) retail store shopping enjoyment (

c

2

=

380df

=

1

P

pound

005) and preference for using the Internetfor information search (

c

2

=

2365 df

=

1

P

pound

001)were signifi cantly different between the groups (seeTable 2) Online shoppers were more likely to beyounger with 473 aged 35 years or younger Non-

Table 1

Sample (

n

=

130)

Variable

n

Percentage

GenderMale 53 41Female 77 59

Age (years)18ndash25 7 5426ndash35 39 30036ndash45 32 24646ndash55 37 285Over 55 14 108

EducationHigh school graduate 3 23Some college 25 192College graduate 30 231Masterrsquos degree 39 300Doctorate degree 30 231Professional degree 3 23

EthnicityCaucasian 120 923AfricanndashAmerican 5 38Native American 2 15Other 3 23

Marital statusSingle 15 115Married 103 792Divorced 10 77Widowed 1 08

Incomelt $25 000 10 8$25 000ndash49 999 32 26$50 000ndash74 999 37 30$75 000ndash99 999 24 20

ge

$100 000 19 16Computer competency

Novice 11 9Intermediate 85 66Expert 32 25

Shop onlinelsquoOnline shoppersrsquo 87 67lsquoNon-online shoppersrsquo 43 33

Table 2

Chi-square tests of characteristics related to online shopping

Variables

Online shopping experience

Total ()

c

2

(df)

Onlineshopper

()

Non-onlineshopper

()

Age (years) 673 (2)35 and younger 38 (473) 9 (209) 47 (326)36ndash45 20 (230) 12 (279) 32 (246)46 and older 29 (333) 22 (512) 51 (392)

Skill level 2274 (2)Novice 2 (23) 9 (214) 11 (86)Intermediate 54 (628) 31 (738) 85 (664)Expert 30 (349) 2 (48) 32 (250)

Shopping at retail stores 380 (1)Enjoy 54 (621) 34 (791) 88 (677)Do not enjoy 33 (379) 9 (209) 42 (323)

Information search 2365 (1)Prefer Internet 74 (860) 19 (452) 93 (727)Prefer retail stores 12 (140) 23 (548) 35 (273)

P

pound

005

P

pound

001


bull

SL Lokken

et al

130


27



online shoppers were more likely to be older with512 aged 46 years and older The majority (809)of the younger consumers in this sample (aged 35 yearsor younger) had made at least one purchase on theInternet

The majority (664) of consumers in this study clas-sified themselves at an lsquointermediatersquo skill level withcomputers Interestingly only 23 of the online shop-pers classified themselves as lsquonovicersquo computer users and only 48 on the non-online shoppers classifi edthemselves as lsquoexpertrsquo computer users This finding sug-gests that consumers with lower computer skills are lesslikely to shop online and consumers with expert com-puter skills are more likely to shop online

Chi-square results also indicated that a higher per -centage of online shoppers do not enjoy shopping atretail stores and a higher percentage of non-onlineshoppers do enjoy shopping at retail stores The major -ity of online shoppers (86) prefer to search for infor -mation about a purchase on the Internet whereas548 of non-online shoppers prefer to search for infor -mation about a purchase in a retail store

Perceived benefits of online shopping

Those who had made at least one purchase online(online shoppers) were asked to identify the reasonswhy they use the web for purchasing products or ser -vices lsquoReviews and recommendations from expertsrsquoand lsquosaving timersquo were the two most frequently citedresponses (Table 3) Convenience other shoppersrsquoopinions vendor information availability and lack ofsales pressure were also selected frequently Of thereported online shoppers (

n

=

87) 88 indicated thatthey were very satisfi ed with the product(s) andor ser -vice(s) that they purchased online Seventy-two per centof these consumers claimed that they would ratherbrowse the Internet to research a product than go to aretail store to gather information about a productInterestingly 70 claimed that they felt conveniencewas more important to them than privac y

Concerns about shopping online

Although 33 (

n

=

43) of the survey sample indicatedthat they had never shopped online 83 of these

non-online shoppers indicated that they had used theInternet to research various products that were laterpurchased offl ine When asked what infl uenced theirdecision not to shop online the majority of non-onlineshoppers (628) indicated security issues such ascredit card safety (See Table 4)

Non-online shoppers were also asked to rank severalconditions on whether likelihood of shopping via theInternet would be increased Each condition wasranked on a fi ve-point Likert-type scale from lsquo1rsquo (veryunlikely) to lsquo5rsquo (very likely) Assurance of credit cardsecurity and lack of local product availability had thehighest mean scores (Table 5)

Discussion

The results of this study indicate that online shoppersare younger and have more self-reported computer

Table 3

Online shopping advantages as perceived by online shoppers

n

()

Reviews and recommendations from experts 18 (207)Saving time 17 (195)Convenience 14 (161)Access to opinions of others 12 (138)Availability of information from vendors 10 (115)No pressure from sales people 10 (115)Better prices 6 (69)

n

=

87

Table 4

Online shopping disadvantages as perceived by non-online shoppers

n

()

Security issues 27 (628)Happy with local shopping 4 (93)Donrsquot have Internet access at home 3 (70)Lack of product demonstration 3 (70)Lack of information about how to shop online 2 (47)Privacy issues 2 (47)Other 2 (47)

n

=

43



27


131

SL Lokken

et al

bull


skills than non-online shoppers This supports onlineshoppers fi tting in Rogersrsquo

1

categories of innovators early adopters and early majority and non-online shop-pers falling into Rogersrsquo categories of late majority andlaggards Online shoppers were also found to be lesslikely to prefer shopping in retail stores and more likelyto prefer searching for product information online another innovative trait Online shoppers revealedseveral perceived advantages of shopping online includ-ing product reviews saving time and convenience Credit card security was the main concern for non-online shoppers

Survey results indicated that as the respondentsrsquosense of computer competenc y increased to the level ofexpert the more likely they were to make purchasesonline This suggests that computer -literate persons aremore likely to feel competent in their choice of makingpurchases online than those who are less computerliterate

Consumers who would rather browse the Internet oruse it to search for product information are more likelyto follow through and make an online purchase Thiscorresponds with previous research suggesting thatmost online shoppers begin by searching for productinformation electronically

14

The results from this study did not indicate a signifi -cant relationship between gender and shopping experi-ence Also income and shopping experience had no

significant relationship One may assume as in the caseof computer experience that if income and computerliteracy were highly correlated persons of higherincome level would be more likely to make purchasesonline This however was not the case Fifty-six per centof the respondents within the income range of $25 000to $74 999 had made purchases online whereas only36 in the $75 000 to $100 000 range had done so Thismay be attributed to the age of higher level administra-tors in this income and occupational category From therespondents who made less than $25 000 only 8 hadshopped online This finding could be attributed to lackof access to personal computers the need to be morefrugal in their shopping or simply shopping less for dis-cretionary items because of a tighter budget

Finally online shopping and experiences with creditcard fraud enjoyment of retail shopping and attitudetowards shopping had no signifi cant relationship Thissuggests that more research is needed to determine cus-tomer incentives and deterrents to shopping online specifically security and privac y issues customer service comparison shipping and the desire to see feel and trya product fi rsthand This finding may also show thattraditional retail shopping will not be reduced orreplaced by online shopping in the future

Some potential limitations are important to considerin the interpretation of the results of this study Perhapsthe primary limitation of this study was the over -representation of Caucasian (92) and married (80)participants in the sample Similarly 84 of the samplecomprised persons 26ndash55 years of age Additional infor -mation regarding the online shopping experiences ofthose ethnic marital status and age range groups whowere under -represented in the sample would be neces-sary to portray the universityrsquo s faculty and staff accu-rately A second limitation was the low return rate(2167) of the study survey The use of E-mail as thevehicle for distribution of the surveys may have causedthe low return rate Using E-mail to distribute thesurvey also potentially biased the results favouringconsumers already using the Internet at a higher rate E-mail is an inexpensive and simple way of distributingquestionnaires but requires caution in relating theresults to all consumers Although these concerns limitthe overall generalizability of the results the findingsmay be germane to those university faculty and staff

Table 5

Conditions that would increase likelihood of shopping online

n

Mean SD

How likely would you be to use the Internet for purchase ifCredit card security was insured 42 371 138You could not purchase the desired product locally 41 354 129You could search across different catalogues for

the desired item42 340 125

The pictures and the descriptions of the itemswere better

41 337 116

It took less time to download 39 328 107It was easier to use the web sites 42 324 105Delivery was quicker 41 320 101You understood how shopping online works 41 298 108You had access to the Internet at home 41 268 115


bull

SL Lokken

et al

132


27



internationally who share similar characteristics tothose identifi ed in this sample

Implications

This research shows that there are differences betweenconsumers who are online shoppers and consumers whohave never used the Internet to shop which supportRogersrsquo defi ned categories of adopters

1

According toMcGregor

28

empowering the consumer is the ultimategoal of consumer education When consumer scienceprofessionals and consumer educators develop curriculafor domestic consumers interacting in the electronicglobal market place which is essential according toGoldsmith and McGregor

29

they need to note the dif-ferent needs of online shoppers and non-online shop-pers Online shoppers who tend to be more risk-taking would benefi t from training in the possible dangers ofonline purchasing Potential for consumer fraud hasincreased with the Internet (e g credit card securityprivacy issues) Although it was not statistically signifi -cant a higher percentage of online shoppers in thisstudy were concerned with convenience than withprivacy

The Internet can empower consumers and allowsthem the opportunity to make informed purchase deci-sions Consumers who have never used the Internetfor shopping who tend to be risk averse should beinformed of some of the helpful features availableto them For example online price comparison ser-vices (eg bottomdollar com consumerworldorg mysimoncom shopper com) are an effi cient way forconsumers to fi nd the lowest prices for goods with theclick of a button Helpful information can be sharedamong consumers using discussion forums and chatrooms Consumers may also benefi t from knowledge ofservices such as grocery delivery and other online shop-ping conveniences such as 24-h access gift registries andwish lists

Even though the sample in this study represents fac-ulty and staff from a university in the south-easternUSA the results can be generalized broadly as theInternet has no geographical boundaries Furtherresearch with a larger more diverse population isneeded to explain more fully the dynamics of onlineshopping however the findings of this study imply that

consumers can benefi t from using the Internet as apotential resource for their shopping needs In additionto informing consumers about the opportunities thatonline shopping may present it is essential that they arealso educated in the potential risks involved in purchas-ing goods and services via the Internet

References

1 Rogers EM (1995) Diffusion of Innovations 4th edn The Free Press New York

2 Felson L (2001) Netting limitations Marketing News 43 43

3 Anon (2002) Online trade will account for 22 of all European business trade in 2006 Forrester calculates [WWW document] URL httpwwwforrestercomERPressRelease01769742FFhtml

4 Holstein WJ Gregory Thomas S amp Vogelstein F (1998) Click lsquotil You Drop US News and World Report December 7 42ndash45

5 Pastore M (2000) Online consumer sales keep increasing CyberAtlas [WWW document] URL httpcyberatlasinternetcommarketsretailingarticle06061_34989100html

6 US Department of Commerce (2000) Retail E-commerce sales in second quarter 2000 increased 53 from first quarter 2000 Census Bureau Reports [WWW document] URL httpwwwcensusgovmrtswwwcurrenthtml

7 Pastore M (2001) Retailing new records predicted for holiday E-commerce CyberAtlas [WWW document] URL httpcyberatlasinternetcommarketsretailingarticle06061_90802100html

8 Ernst and Young (2001) Consumer trends in online shopping In Global Online Retailing An Ernst and Young Special Report Stores 83 (1) 5ndash9

9 Pastore M (2001 April 24) Half of American adults now shop online CyberAtlas [WWW document] URL httpcyberatlasinternetcommarketsretailingarticle06061_75102100html

10 Cope N (1996) Retail in the Digital Age Bowerdean London

11 Chou DC (1999) The economics of taxing electronic commerce Information Systems Management 16 712

12 Green H Morris K Palmer AT Anderson Forest S amp Hamm S (1999) The great Yuletide shakeout Business Week 3653 18ndash25

13 Reinhardt A amp Passariello CW (2002) E-commerce starts to click Business Week 3796 56

copy 2003 Blackwell Publishing Ltd International Journal of Consumer Studies 27 2 March 2003 pp126ndash133 133

SL Lokken et al bull Comparing online and non-online

14 Pastore M (2000) Stores vs web sites the battle continues [WWW document] URL httpcyberatlasinternetcommarketsretailingarticle06061_48246100html

15 Citrin AV Sprott DE Silverman SN amp Stem DE (2000) Adoption of internet shopping the role of consumer innovativeness Industrial Management and Data Systems 100 294ndash300

16 Liang TP amp Huang JS (1998) An empirical study on consumer acceptance of products in electronic markets a transaction cost model Decision Support Systems 24 29ndash43

17 Rowley J (1996) Retailing and shopping on the Internet International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management 24 (3) 26ndash37

18 Atwood B (1997) The age of armchair shopping Billboard 109 (11) 86ndash87

19 Ginsburg L (1996 February 19) Eshoprsquos approach to safe net shopping Communications Week 597 IA 6

20 Libbon RP (1999) Data dog American Demographics 21 (2) 35

21 Maignan I amp Lukas BA (1997) The nature and social uses of the Internet a qualitative investigation Journal of Consumer Affairs 31 346ndash371

22 Forrester Research (2000) [WWW document] URL httpwwwforrestercomHome032571FFhtml

23 Jones JM amp Vijayasarathy LR (1998) Internet consumer catalog shopping findings from an exploratory study and directions for future research Internet Research Electronic Networking Applications and Policy 8 322ndash330

24 Vijayasarathy LR amp Jones JM (2000) Print and Internet catalog shopping assessing attitudes and intentions Internet Research Electronic Networking Applications and Policy 10 191ndash202

25 Jeffrey D (1999) Survey details consumer shopping trends on the net Billboard 111 (22) 47ndash48

26 Anon (2001) Protecting your privacy online Fortune 142 27ndash29

27 Gall MD Borg WR amp Gall JP (1996) Educational Research an Introduction 6th edn Longman Publishers USA White Plains NY

28 McGregor SLT (September 2000) Consumer education and the OECD electronic commerce consumer protection guidelines International Journal of Consumer Studies 24 170ndash178

29 Goldsmith E amp McGregor SLT (2000) E-commerce consumer protection issues and implications for research and education International Journal of Consumer Studies 24 124ndash127



27


127

SL Lokken

et al

bull


According to a study by F orrester Research

2

Euro-pean industries are predicted to experience rapidgrowth in online trade Online sales comprised lt 1 oftotal business trade in 2001 but are predicted to jumpto 22 by 2006 Although the number of US Internetusers has remained stable the number of Europeanusers has increased by 14 in the fi rst half of 2002

13

Online shoppers

According to a study by Harris Interactive

14

the num-ber of browsers (consumers who gather informationonline and purchase offl ine) has remained constant ordeclined whereas the number of online buyers hasincreased steadily The online shopping experience hasbecome more positive for most Previous studies haveshown that higher amounts of Internet use (for non-shopping activities) are associated with an increasedamount of Internet product purchases

15

Studies havealso shown that different products have different levelsof customer acceptance via online shopping

16

E-commerce may lower the initial search costs but raisesthe product examination payment and after -servicecosts

Consumer compliments and concerns

According to online-shopping consumers some of theperceived advantages of shopping online includeamount of product information ease of use speed andconvenience

1417

Although Internet usage continues toincrease there are persistent concerns about the credi-bility and security of online transactions

18ndash21

Accordingto a Forrester Research Group study

22

scepticism aboutbuying online included (a) the need to touch feel andtry a product fi rsthand (48) (b) the lack of compari-son shopping (35) and (c) the desire to speak to astore clerk before purchasing (31) Other concernsinvolved the facilitation of payment and refunds reli-ability customer service and ability to cancel orders

2324

Additional consumer concerns about online shoppingwere found in the 1999 World Wide Internet OpinionSurvey conducted by the Direct Marketing Associa-tion

25

According to the survey 42 of the 1494 partic-ipants cited security as their primary apprehensionabout online shopping Also 18 of the survey partic-

ipants cited privac y issues as a point of concern Accord-ing to Sarah Andrews of the Electronic Privac yInformation Center in Washington DC the US lsquolagsbehinds nearly every other country in online privac yprotection for consumersrsquo

26

Theory of innovations

Rogersrsquo theory of innovations

1

can be useful in explain-ing consumersrsquo adoption of the Internet for shopping He has defi ned fi ve stages in the adoption processknowledge persuasion decision implementation andconfirmation Rogers

1

has also defi ned categories ofadopters innovators early adopters early majority latemajority and laggards According to Rogers

1

innova-tors need to be able to afford the innovation and there-fore are typically consumers with higher incomes higher occupational status and higher levels of educa-tion They are also considered risk takers and tend tobe inner directed in their decision making Early adopt-ers share many of the characteristics of innovators butare more integrated into their social groups than inno-vators The early majority usually enter the market afterbeing infl uenced by an early adopter whom they knowand respect Late majority adopters tend to be lowerincome and older They may be slower to adopt newinnovations because of fi nancial constraints or the factthat they are not directly infl uenced by others in theirsocial group Laggards enter the market after the inno-vation has been well accepted and when few risks arepresent

Research questions

For the purposes of this project the researchers inves-tigated the Internet as an instrument of commerce fromthe consumerrsquo s perspective The following researchquestions were asked (1) What consumer characteris-tics are different between online shoppers (Rogersrsquo

1

innovators early adopters and early majority) and non-online shoppers (Rogersrsquo

1

late majority laggards) (2)What are the benefi ts of online shopping as perceivedby online shoppers (3) What are the perceived risks ofonline shopping as perceived by non-online shoppersFor this study online shoppers were defi ned as consum-ers who had made at least one purchase online Non-online shoppers may have searched for product or


bull

SL Lokken

et al

128


27




Methods

Participants



27


Procedure




Instrumentation


Data analysis




27


129

SL Lokken

et al

bull


Results

Sample description





c

2

=

673 df

=

2

P

pound


c

2

=

2274 df

=

2

P

pound


c

2

=

380df

=

1

P

pound


c

2

=

2365 df

=

1

P

pound


Table 1

Sample (

n

=

130)

Variable

n

Percentage







ge




Table 2


Variables


Total ()

c

2

(df)

Onlineshopper

()

Non-onlineshopper

()





P

pound

005

P

pound

001


bull

SL Lokken

et al

130


27








n

=



Although 33 (

n

=




Discussion


Table 3


n

()


n

=

87

Table 4


n

()


n

=

43



27


131

SL Lokken

et al

bull



1




14





Table 5


n

Mean SD




41 337 116



bull

SL Lokken

et al

132


27




Implications


1


28


29





References

































bull

SL Lokken

et al

128


27




Methods

Participants



27


Procedure




Instrumentation


Data analysis




27


129

SL Lokken

et al

bull


Results

Sample description





c

2

=

673 df

=

2

P

pound


c

2

=

2274 df

=

2

P

pound


c

2

=

380df

=

1

P

pound


c

2

=

2365 df

=

1

P

pound


Table 1

Sample (

n

=

130)

Variable

n

Percentage







ge




Table 2


Variables


Total ()

c

2

(df)

Onlineshopper

()

Non-onlineshopper

()





P

pound

005

P

pound

001


bull

SL Lokken

et al

130


27








n

=



Although 33 (

n

=




Discussion


Table 3


n

()


n

=

87

Table 4


n

()


n

=

43



27


131

SL Lokken

et al

bull



1




14





Table 5


n

Mean SD




41 337 116



bull

SL Lokken

et al

132


27




Implications


1


28


29





References


































27


129

SL Lokken

et al

bull


Results

Sample description





c

2

=

673 df

=

2

P

pound


c

2

=

2274 df

=

2

P

pound


c

2

=

380df

=

1

P

pound


c

2

=

2365 df

=

1

P

pound


Table 1

Sample (

n

=

130)

Variable

n

Percentage







ge




Table 2


Variables


Total ()

c

2

(df)

Onlineshopper

()

Non-onlineshopper

()





P

pound

005

P

pound

001


bull

SL Lokken

et al

130


27








n

=



Although 33 (

n

=




Discussion


Table 3


n

()


n

=

87

Table 4


n

()


n

=

43



27


131

SL Lokken

et al

bull



1




14





Table 5


n

Mean SD




41 337 116



bull

SL Lokken

et al

132


27




Implications


1


28


29





References

































bull

SL Lokken

et al

130


27








n

=



Although 33 (

n

=




Discussion


Table 3


n

()


n

=

87

Table 4


n

()


n

=

43



27


131

SL Lokken

et al

bull



1




14





Table 5


n

Mean SD




41 337 116



bull

SL Lokken

et al

132


27




Implications


1


28


29





References


































27


131

SL Lokken

et al

bull



1




14





Table 5


n

Mean SD




41 337 116



bull

SL Lokken

et al

132


27




Implications


1


28


29





References

































bull

SL Lokken

et al

132


27




Implications


1


28


29





References


















































Documents

Comparing Online and Non-Online Shoppers