Vendor Bulleted List
Access Info
- The majority of respondents (61%) say that they would prefer if they could access personal information stored by a site to verify its accuracy. There is also a slight indication that this preference depends on what information is being collected. More novices say they require access (38%) than experts (21%)--in general, novices tend to be more cautious than experts.
Brand Name
- Many users prefer a brand name when ordering over the web (43%) but it is a requirement only for few (10%). For those who place a condition on this requirement, the most common condition is that it depends on the item being ordered (30%).
Choose Use
- The majority of users (58%) would prefer to have some control over how the information collected about them was used. Almost a third (32%) require some control before ordering a product from the site. For those that have a conditional preference, their biggest concern in what is being collected.
Customer Profile
- Very few respondents would require that sites maintain a customer profile about them (5%), but many prefer it (37%). Nearly a third say that it would depend on the information being collected (30%) and 15% say that it would depend on what they were ordering. More males than females said they don't care whether sites maintain a customer profile or not. Younger users are less likely to care than older users, as well. For experts, it depends on what is being stored in the profile.
Explicit Policy
- Of the questions asked in this section of the survey, the having an explicit privacy policy has one of the highest percentage of "require" responses: 48%. This result agrees with the data privacy section of the survey in which respondents report that their primary condition for revealing demographic information is that a statement be provided about what is collected and how it is used.
Offline Presence
- The largest category of respondents prefer that sites have an offline presence (43%), but many say that they don't care (32%). Experts care less than other groups (42% don't care), but women care more (19% require offline presence). Generally, women tend to be more cautious than males in online shopping.
Providing Credit Card Information Through The Web
- On issues related to providing credit card information through the web, there is no clear consensus among respondents. Respondents are divided on whether it is riskier to use a credit card on the web or to use it over the phone. Being a well-known vendor makes a difference to many respondents (48%). 45% of respondents say that having to give credit card information is not the main reason they don't shop on the web, but another 36% say that it is the main reason.
Third Party
- A fairly high percentage of respondents (57%) prefer that sites do have their privacy policies audited. Just over a quarter of respondents (26%) say it depends on what information the site is collecting.
Vendor Characteristics
- The first set of questions compares web vendors to traditional vendors. Respondents report that web vendors have the advantage when it comes to: the usefulness of the information they provide, ease of ordering, ease of contacting them, and to some extent having the lowest price. The only point for which traditional vendors have an advantage is in the security of using credit cards, but other questions have shown that security is a major issue for online shoppers.
The second set of questions asks about the importance of various characteristics of web vendors. Respondents rank almost everything "very important": timely delivery, security, quality of information, ease of ordering, ease of cancelling an order, etc. The one with the highest percentage of "very important" responses (89%) is, as we might guess, security. Interstingly, having the lowest price, was only "somewhat important" to 55% of respondents. The only point that was not important to most users (49%) was that the site use "cutting edge" technology.
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GVU's WWW Surveying Team |