Consumer eCommerce Spending is Thwarted by Security Concerns
New York, New York – (The Hosting News) – November 30, 2005 – A new survey reveals that 69 percent of online shoppers will limit their online purchasing because of fears associated with misuse of personal information.
The survey entitled,
2005 Holiday Shopping/Online Trust Survey, was sponsored by online security company TRUSTe, and conducted by TNS.
The results also found that 78 percent of American Internet users plan to conduct some shopping online this year. The 1,005 consumers surveyed also indicated that concerns about privacy issues will deter more than 40 percent of consumers from shopping at smaller online retailers.
The survey indicates that based on these concerns, 22 percent of shoppers will not make any purchases online and an additional 14 percent will substantially limit their online spending. Among those willing to use e-commerce, nearly 42 percent prefer using the large, well-known online brands they believe will keep them safer from privacy-related threats.
According to David Stark, North America Privacy Officer of TNS, ”More than three out of four shoppers feel more comfortable purchasing at sites that display a privacy statement or privacy seal. Among these consumers, two-thirds are more likely to stick with well known brands because they fear that lesser known e-tailers might misuse their personal information. The data overwhelmingly show that privacy concerns continue to hinder the growth of e-commerce.”
Fran Maier, President and Executive Director of TRUSTe added, ”TRUSTe’s seal programs are designed to promote the companies that consumers can trust to respect their information, and that fight against the fraudsters. This survey shows that most consumers are aware that the risks are greatest when shopping at sites that don’t clearly show that privacy is a priority.”
The top five factors that shoppers say might limit or prevent them from buying online this holiday season are, in order, identity theft (cited by 49 percent), spam resulting from online purchases (39 percent), credit card theft (39 percent), spyware (38 percent) and preference for the “touch and feel” of shopping in bricks-and-mortar stores (35 percent).
Holiday shopping tips to help consumers “Stop, Think, Click” can be found at www.OnGuardOnline.gov, the Federal Trade Commission’s consumer safety website.
The TNS/TRUSTe survey was conducted online between October 27 and November 1, 2005. Email invitations were sent to a nationally representative sample of the U.S. adult online population derived from the TNS NFO Internet Access Panel, which comprises more than one million U.S. households that have agreed to participate in survey research from time to time. In total, 1,005 online interviews were completed and the survey results are considered accurate to within three percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
To learn more about TNS, please visit: target=_blank>www.tns-global.com.
For further information on TRUSTe, please visit:
About The Author TheHostingNews.com is your premiere source of daily web hosting news and source for finding web hosting industry information. Read more from this authorRelated posts:
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