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2001 Shopping Online Survey

 

Introduction

Consumers' Online Spending 

Consumers' Problems and Concerns

Consumers' Knowledge about Shopping Online 

Consumers' Credit Card Use

Methodology

 

Introduction

E-commerce is big business—consumers spent nearly $26 billion online last year, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. But people are still concerned that their personal information may fall into the wrong hands. NCL began tracking consumers’ online shopping experiences with a survey in 1999. This year NCL asked many of the same questions and added new questions to find out if consumers are aware of new technologies that make shopping online safer.

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Consumers' Online Spending 

In the new survey, more than half (55 percent) of consumers with Internet access at work or in the home said they placed an order online in the previous 12 months, compared with only 44 percent in 1999. Convenience is the top reason they like to shop the Web (56 percent). Most consumers bought one to five items (30 percent). The most popular items were books or music (57 percent), airplane or other travel tickets (49 percent), clothing (35 percent), computer software (34 percent), tickets to movies, concerts, or other sporting events (33 percent), and computer hardware (30 percent). Consumers are spending about the same amount as they did in 1999 most under $500 (69 percent now compared to 64 percent in 1999).

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Consumers' Problems and Concerns

Concerns about shopping online haven’t changed much since 1999. Most people say their biggest worry is that their credit card numbers will be stolen (43 percent). Fears that their personal information will be abused ranks second (22 percent). Nearly one-third have had a problem with an online purchase. The most common complaint is that the products or services received were not what was promised (13 percent, up from 8 percent in 1999). Five percent said the product was never delivered; three percent claimed the seller tried to charge more than the original agreement; two percent said they were charged for a purchase they never agreed to make; and two percent said their credit card number was stolen and used fraudulently after they gave it online.

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Consumers' Knowledge about Shopping Online

As in 1999, most of the respondents failed the consumer knowledge portion of the survey. Only two questions were answered correctly by the majority of consumers: 71 percent said that it is important to know where an online seller is located; 73 percent know that businesses do not have to go through a screening process to make sure they are legitimate before they can put up a Web site. A whopping 59 percent mistakenly believe it is safer to pay with a check or money order online than with a credit card, and 55 percent incorrectly think that federal law gives them three business days to cancel an online purchase. Fifty-one percent do not know that federal law requires goods or services purchased online to be delivered by the promised time or, if none was stated, within 30 days.

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Consumers' Credit Card Use

Ninety-two percent of the online shoppers surveyed in 2001 have used a credit card to pay for an online purchase in the previous 12 months. Only one in ten (11 percent) of credit card users said that their cards allowed them to generate single-use or substitute numbers, not surprising since this technology is relatively new. However, more than half (53 percent) of those who have a credit card with this feature had taken advantage of it.

Consumers are enthusiastic about this new option. Whether they had used credit cards online or not, the overwhelming majority (81 percent) said that if their credit cards offered single-use or substitute numbers, they would use them instead of putting their real credit card numbers online. Of those who wouldn’t use them, the main reasons were that they didn’t think it was necessary (46 percent) or weren’t familiar with them (31 percent).

Finally, two-thirds (67 percent) of online shoppers said that using single-use or substitute credit card numbers would give them more confidence about making purchases on the Internet.

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Methodology

This CARAVAN® Survey presents the findings of a telephone survey conducted among a national probability sample of 1003 adults comprising 502 men and 501 women 18 years of age and older, living in private households in the continental United States.

  Interviewing was completed during the period August 9-12, 2001.  All data collection efforts took place at Opinion Research Corporation’s Central Telephone Facility in Tucson, Arizona and/or Tampa, Florida.  The core of our telephone center is the interviewers.  All Opinion Research Corporation’s interviewers complete an intensive training and test period.  Additionally, they attend follow-up training classes that cover advanced screening techniques, in-depth probing and the art of refusal avoidance.  Interviewers are continuously supervised, monitored and reviewed in order to maintain the highest quality interviewing standards.

  The most advanced probability sampling techniques are employed in the selection of households for telephone interviewing. Opinion Research Corporation utilizes an unrestricted random sampling procedure that controls the amount of serial bias found in systematic sampling to generate its random-digit-dial sample.  The sample is fully replicated and stratified by region.  Only one interview is conducted per household.  All sample numbers selected are subject to up to four attempts to complete an interview.

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