Negative Aspects With Online Shopping

Online shopping is a great resource to have for easy access to all goods and services. But, online shopping has not been the safest place to shop. Even in traditional malls there are shoplifters, thieves, and bullies. But online shopping is one of the places were identity thief occurs most frequently. Privacy and security on the Internet is not as secure as it should be. Online shopping sites have tried to take precautions to minimize these issues. Web sites are improving their security and surveillance on a daily basis. This YouTube  video explains how online shopping cannot always be trusted by consumers trying to buy online. With this video consumers are also aware of the negative side of online shopping. But the positive aspects of online shopping seem to override these few negative aspects.

Motivations for Online Shopping

Why do people shop online? The three main factors are due to career, family, and entertainment. These reasons seem to fit the profile for those who would be mostly likely to shop online. Online shopping is a resource where people can shop that is convenient, easy, and hassle free. Online shopping is one of the best resources to do quick and easy shopping. Why would people even want to shop in malls anymore?

Rural vs. Urban Internet Access

   Geographical features have a great influence over online shopping. Rural and urban communities have major differences geographically. Rural areas around the country have many disadvantages when it comes to online shopping. Rural areas are very isolated and are not usually surrounded by many shopping malls or stores. Rural areas have longer distances to travel to malls, stores, and other types of industrialization. These areas need to outsource all of their goods and services to other more urbanized areas. Areas like this have less economic opportunity than urban areas. Internet usage in rural areas are not as high as in urban areas which leads to less online shopping. Rural areas normally do not have high percentages for online purchasing. This can be caused for a number of reasons.  The adaptation to technologies is much slower in rural communities that would lead to less Internet usage.  This link shows not only the “digital divide” in the United States but also in China. This site shows some statistics of Internet usage in rural and urban areas of China. This link is just an example on how Internet usage is divided not only in the United States but globally also.
   Online shopping would be a very valuable resource to use in rural communities. 

 (Home Broadband Adoption in Rural America)

This image also displays how rural areas tend to use the Internet less than the urban areas, which tend to use this more. The resource for online shopping would be very valuable for people in rural areas to use. Local rural businesses can take advantage of online shopping to promote their business. These small businesses can use the Internet to sell their goods and services to a larger market than just locally. Small businesses can not only survive but also make a large profit from doing this. Online shopping makes it possible for local businesses to sell globally to any consumer who wants to purchase this good or service. This will improve the sales of these businesses, expand their business and also increase economic opportunity. The resource of online shopping can give economic opportunity to those who live in rural communities. This will then impact more jobs and job opportunities to those who live in rural areas. This becomes cycles that will positively influence rural communities. The number of people who are in poverty in rural areas would go down. Online shopping has so many advantages for rural communities to use much more than they do now. Time will allow for Internet and online shopping to grow and become more widely used.

   This YouTube video seemed to be a great example of how the rural “digital divide” is happening in the United States at this time especially in Ohio. This man explains how Internet access is very expensive and small and poor rural communities cannot afford this.

   For urban areas online shopping is widely used. In urban areas there tend to be more wealthy people that are populated there. These people have easy access to stores, malls, and other places to shop. But with all these resources people still decide to online shop frequently more than rural areas. This could also been contributed to technology and Internet usage are used more in urban places.  With more people using and searching the Internet people are more likely to shop online and feel more comfortable with this process than rural people might feel. These are only some of the reasons why urban places seem to have the upper hand when it comes to Internet usage and online shopping.

   Online shopping is not only affected by geographical factors but also demographic factors also. Many factors need to be taken into consideration when looking at consumer buying online.  

Links: 

(Home Broadband Adoption in Rural America)

http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2006/Home-Broadband-Adoption-in-Rural-America/Data-Memo.aspx

Increase in Online Shopping During the Holidays

Online shopping increases when it comes to the holiday season. This graph shows how online shopping has increased.

(Weekly Online Holiday Retail Sales)

People become very busy and preoccupied with other aspects of the holidays rather than shopping. Most people resort to online shopping to help take away the pressure and stress of holiday shopping. Online shopping provides an easy and effective way to buy specific goods in a timely manner. Some people do not want to go visit the traditional overcrowded mall during the holiday season. Shopping online will enable individuals to access a wider range of goods that are in stock in every color, shape, and size. This resource of shopping online will also allow for the customer to order goods last minute for the holidays and will be shipped at a very rapid rate. Shopping online will help the customer compare goods and prices to get the best deal for their money. Shoppers are also able to pinpoint the exact good that they were looking for online much more effortlessly than going to the mall to search. This blog gives some tips about online shopping during the holidays. These tips would be helpful to people who are looking to online shop in a safe way.



Link:
http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2008/12/Cyber_Monday_Sales_Reach_846_Million/%28language%29/eng-US

Consumer Demographics Affect on Online Shopping

The consumer demographic profile is another major factor for online shopping.  This link has provided information about demographics and online shopping behavior.The factors are gender, age, job, monthly income, and martial status are main factors for online shopping behavior. These are the five main factors that contribute to online shopping attitudes. For gender studies have proven that males tend to shop more online compared to females. This could be because males do not usually enjoy going to malls and shopping traditionally compared to females. Another reason could also be because the majority of men do not enjoy shopping they just want a quick and easy way to buy without any hassle. I am sure many men can relate to this feeling.  Online shopping would be a more suitable fit for males. This graph is a representation of male to female ratio for the gender that shops more frequently online. In almost all times during the week males are more dominant.

(Frequency of Online Shopping)

   Another contributing factor would be age. Age is another factor that will shape the online shopping attitude. Younger generations seem to shop more online because they have more knowledge of computer technology. The Millennial generation being referred to would be the age group between 18 and 32 (Generations Online in 2009).  Schools have taught this younger generation how to use computers and access information on them. This new resource is more useful and valuable to the younger generation for this exact reason. In turn, the younger generation is able to feel more comfortable with the use of this technology. Older generations do shop online but, the younger generation shops online more frequently.

An additional factor that will affect online shopping behavior would be job status. The higher paying jobs will lead to higher salaries. This increase in salary will then lead to more online shopping. With a higher salary an individual can use there extra money to buy not only to pay bills but also shop online. These people with higher salaries will also be able to apply for credit cards and use that to shop online also. Online shopping is a luxury and not all people of the population are able to do this. Lower income families might not be able to afford a computer or Internet access to have the ability to shop online. All of these factors would lead to the conclusion that higher paying jobs will in turn lead to an increase in salary which would ultimately lead to a higher online shopping rate for these people. All of these conclusions would back track to the value of education. Education is a major part of people's future and will affect their jobs and future income. The lack of education will cause for online shopping and e-commerce to decrease. Education has an affect on not only e-commerce but also much bigger issues like welfare, Medicare, and other government issued policies to help citizens with financial problems.  

   Martial status is one of the last main factors that affect the attitudes towards online shopping. The highest shopping rate that was mentioned based on martial status would be widowed and divorced individuals. The conclusion taken from these statistics would be that widowed and divorced individuals are alone and bored and turned to online shopping to find companionship. E-commerce also allows for freedom and control on the Internet and this could serve the same effect for widowed and divorced individuals. The second highest online shopping rate was then single. The lowest online shopping rate was then married. This research was conducted and seems to be very accurate.

   The trends and patterns that who shop online is a great deal of how this new generation in society will become even more dependent on e-commerce than the generation before them. This online dependency can be seen in a both positive and negative perspective. This blog will continue to focus on the positive direction that e-commerce has brought society.

Related Links:

http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol5/issue2/hairong.html#Abstract

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1324806

(Generations Online in 2009)

http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/Generations-Online-in-2009/Generational-Differences-in-Online-Activities.aspx

(Frequency of Online Shopping)

http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/user_surveys/survey-04-1996/graphs/use/shopping.html

Consumer buying behavior when it comes to e-commerce:

Online shopping has influenced consumers and how they buy goods and services online. Internet buying behavior is mostly based on these three main factors, individual, product, and task-specific factors. These factors are the main ones that deal with online shopping and how consumers buy on the internet. There are also three types of shopping when it comes to not only the internet but also brick-and-mortar retail. The types of shopping are browsing, one-time shopping, and constant shopping. These shopping habits are essential for researchers to base studies and understand patterns of online shopping. This link (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1324806) is a resource that will go in much more detail about how consumers will buy and how much they will buy on the internet. This link will also provide some numbers and percentages of online spending in the United States. This will also lead to the dependency that the United States has on e-commerce. Modern society has become so dependent on technology that e-commerce has grown to sufficient numbers over the past five years.

(Automotive Digital Marketing)

This graph is a representation of how e-commerce has grown over the years. This is also an example on how e-commerce and technology have become a resource for most of society. The internet is a resource for all consumers trying to buy. E-commerce has opened the doors to a wider range of goods and services but also at a very high speed.

Links:

http://www.automotivedigitalmarketing.com/profiles/blogs/capgemini-cars-online-0809