GVU's Ninth WWW User

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GVU's 9th WWW User Survey
Internet Shopping (Part 2) Summary

Seeking Behavior Across Media

The Web is a leading source of information about products in several important categories for survey respondents. Computer related products are the ones respondents were more likely to seek information about using the web with hardware costing more than $50 leading the way (78.3%), followed closely behind by software costing more than $50 (77.7%), software costing less than $50 (75.7%), and hardware costing less than $50 (70.7%). Information about books and magazines was also sought mostly using the web (72.4%) followed by travel arrangements (68.2%), and music recordings (62.6%). For all these categories of products, respondents are more likely to seek information using the Web than using newspapers and magazines (between 5.3% more likely in the case of hardware costing more than $50 and 33.1% more likely in the case of travel arrangements), and much more likely than using direct mail (between 37.7% more likely for music recordings and 52.9% more likely for travel arrangements). Information about investment choices was the only category surveyed for which respondents have not made the Web their main source of information and sought it at equal rates from the Web and from print news media (40%).

Purchasing Sources

When it comes to actually making a purchase, respondents are also active online purchasers to the point that they were more likely to have made an online purchase in the last six months than a catalog purchase in the same period in all categories of products. However, online purchases did not match the likelihood of retail purchases during that period even for the four categories of computer products. The exception is in travel arrangements where online purchases received a slight edge over retail (36% to 35.4%). The highest rates of online purchases were reported in books and magazines (51% versus 78.5% retail) and in software costing less than $50 (50% versus 64.4% retail).

Online Seeking and Purchasing

Comparison of the data from the previous two questions shows that respondents used the Web for information seeking much more than they did to make actual purchases. In all categories except for investment choices, more than 60% of respondents used the Web to seek product information. However, in all categories except books and magazines (51%) and software costing less than $50 (50%), less than 40% of respondents made a purchase in the last six months. Nevertheless, online purchasing is growing rapidly, as we can see by comparing the data from this survey with the data from the 8th User Survey conducted in October 1997.

Purchase category

Eighth Survey

Ninth Survey

Percent Change

Investments

10.4

14.7

41.35

Hardware < $50

17.42

31.0

77.96

Hardware > $50

20.28

32.9

62.23

Travel Arrangements

26.09

36.0

37.98

Software > $50

23.19

38.0

63.86

Music CD/Tapes

19.52

38.3

96.21

Software < $50

29.8

50.0

67.79

Books/Magazines

29.92

51.0

70.45

Opinions on Providing Credit Card Information

This addresses the factors that Web users find discourage or encourage them to provide their credit card information when making online purchases. Most respondents did not consider providing this information as the major obstacle for making purchases on the Web (54.9% combining those who strongly and somewhat disagree). This is confirmed by the number or respondents who don't consider it more risky than providing the same information over the phone (60.5% combining those who somewhat and strongly agree). Both lower prices and higher quality of products did not seem to have a bearing on the respondents' willingness to provide credit card information over the Web. The major factor appears to be the reputation of the vendor (76.1% combining those who somewhat and strongly agree).

Ways of providing Credit Card Information

When asked about alternative ways to provide credit card information, supposing they really wanted the product, the negative responses produced the most interesting result. Respondents were rather emphatic in rejecting both toll phone/fax calls (72.4% combining somewhat and very unlikely) and email (65.6% combining somewhat and very unlikely). On the other hand, respondents were very likely to provide credit card information using a secure transmission over the Web (80.5% combining somewhat and very likely).

Comparing Web Vendors and Traditional Vendors

The question asked respondents to compare Web vendors to traditional vendors in a number of areas such as quality of information, ease of order placement, prices, safety or credit card information among others. Interestingly, they did not give a significant advantage to either one in any of the categories.

 

 

Total Spending on WWW Purchases

The largest percentage of respondents who made purchases over the Web in the last six months spent between $100-$500 (32.5%) and a group almost as large spent more than $500 (29.5%). When taking into account the location of respondents, the patterns are similar with the preponderance of the same amounts of spending. However, Europeans and those outside Europe and the USA are more likely to make smaller purchases (less than $50) over the web (26.3% and 28.4% versus 20.9%, respectively). When considering the years on the Internet and interesting pattern of spending emerges. The lowest category of spending (less than $50) decreases steadily with increasing experience (from 55% with under 6 months to 15% with more than 7 years). The highest category of spending (more than $500) is a mirror image of the lowest: it increases steadily with experience (from 2% under 6 months to 46% with more than 7 years). The two spending categories in between ($50-$100 and $100-$500) remain almost constant with time on the Internet (hovering around 10% and 30% respectively). There are slight differences in the spending patterns of women and men. They are almost equally likely to have spent at the $100-$500 level (30.9% and 33.5%, respectively) but women are more likely to purchase more in the under $50 level (28.6% versus 17.5%) and less likely to purchase at the above $500 level (21.9% versus 34.5%).

Personal versus Professional Purchasing over the Web

Respondents report that they use the Web for personal purchases mostly with a frequency 1-2 times a month (28.2%) or less than once a month (27.5%). In contrast, most of them never use the Web for professional purchases (35.5%) or they do with low frequency (24.8% less than once a month and 15.8% 1-2 times a month). Women and men have similar patterns of frequency of personal purchasing except that a larger percentage of women responded that they never made such purchases (10.3% versus 4.7%). The percentage of women that never made a professional purchase is also significantly larger (44.1% versus 29.7%) but women are only slightly less likely than men to make professional purchases in the other frequency categories.

Type of Information - Personal

Respondents could select more than one type of information and three categories were most often selected. The first was detailed information about products and services (86.4%) followed by price comparison (79.9%) and availability of products and services (77.6%). The same three categories of information are chosen most often by Europeans with a significantly smaller percentage than USA respondents seeking price comparison information (62% versus 80.6%).

Type of Information - Professional

The same question on information seeking behavior related to professional purchases resulted in the same three categories being selected in the same order but at higher rates. Respondents sought detailed information about products and services more than any other category (92%), followed by price comparisons (82.7%) and availability (78.8%). European respondents selected the same categories most often at slightly higher rates than their American counterparts.

Time Spent Searching - Personal

The largest category of users spends between 5 and 15 minutes searching before they find the first piece of useful information (35.2%). The next largest group spends less than 5 minutes (29.3%). This represents a shift of about 5% toward shorter search times from the previous survey. Experts tend to find things faster (less than 5 minutes: 33.7% experts, 15.5% novices), which represents a much larger difference than the previous survey (18.2% versus 8%).

Time Spent Searching - Professional

When searching for professional reasons, an almost equal number of respondents finds it 5-15 minutes (31%) as in less than 5 minutes (30.5%). This represents significant increases toward shorter search times from the previous survey. The contrast between experts and novices is significant (less than 5 minutes: 38.6% experts, 16.7% novices).

Success Rate - Personal

Respondents report that they find what they are looking for most of the time (59.2%). Almost identical numbers of respondents find what they are looking for always (16.8%) or half the time (16.5%). The cumulative percentage of responses of European and American respondents who find what they are looking for all or most of the time is virtually identical (76%) with a slightly greater proportion of Americans having success always. Experience counts as the cumulative percentage of responses by experts who find what they look for all or most of the time (79.9%) is larger than the cumulative percentage of novices (66.4%).

Success Rate - Professional

Respondents who reported on professional use also found what they were looking for most of the time (56.6%). The next largest category of users succeeds all the time (18.6%) which is slightly larger than the group that succeeds half the time (17.3%). A larger proportion of Europeans than Americans reports having success all the time (29.6% versus 17.5%). Women report a lower rate of success than men (cumulative percentage all or most of the time: 63.3% females, 79.3% males). Experts are more successful overall than novices (cumulative percentage all or most of the time: 82.1% experts, 58.3% novices) but, interestingly, novices report success always at a greater rate (33.3% versus 21.4%).

Time to Give Up - Personal

The largest category of respondents gives up a search for personal product information after about 10-20 minutes (30.4%). It is followed by the group that reports giving up after 20-30 minutes (23.2%) and not to far behind those who give up after only 5-10 minutes (16.4%).

Time to Give Up - Professional

The largest category among professional users is the same as for personal ones giving up after about 10-20 minutes (32.3%). However, they do show a slight tendency to give up earlier with a greater percentage of professional respondents giving up after only 5-10 minutes (21.2%). A large percentage of inexperienced users said this question did not apply to them. However, those who did find it applicable tended to give up earlier than experts (after 5-10 minutes: 25% novices, 20.7% experts).

Dissatisfying Experiences - Personal

This question inquires about the reasons a person might have to abandon a Web site while shopping to visit another site and respondents could choose more than one answer to this question. Three reasons were selected more than 50% of the time: they could not find what they were looking for (56.4%), the site was disorganized or confusing (53.7%), and the pages were too slow to download (53.1%). This marks an interesting development with respect to the previous survey in that content issues surpassed technical issues as the main source of dissatisfying experiences. Men reported these problems at a higher rate than women, especially regarding disorganized or confusing sites (58.1% versus 47.7%). Dissatisfying experiences also increase with experience on the net and for those age 21-50.

Dissatisfying Experiences - Professional

The same three reasons cited in personal uses of the Web were selected at a higher rate by professional users: could not find what they were looking for (62.4%), the site was disorganized or confusing (61.1%), and the pages were too slow to download (59.7%). Europeans experienced these problems slightly more than Americans. The difference between reports by men and women were very significant with men having experienced these difficulties at rates 20% higher.

Purchasing Decisions - Personal

The information gathered on the Web resulted in personal purchases mostly 1-2 times a month (32.1%) and less than once a month (31.7%). The trend toward increased purchase decisions compared to the previous survey is significant cutting the proportion of those who never made a personal purchase decision based on Web material almost in half (9.4%) and increasing the proportion of those who did 3-5 times a month by 65% (16.5%). European respondents are very similar to Americans in their personal purchase decision patterns regarding those who either never make such decisions or do so more than 3 times a month. However, the remaining group of European respondents is significantly more likely to make purchase decisions less than once a month rather than 1-2 times a month. Experience on the net tends to make for systematic personal purchase decisions. The cumulative percentage of those making personal purchasing decisions 1-5 times a month increases steadily from novices (34.5%), through intermediates (44%), to experts (57.1%).

Purchasing Decisions - Professional

Responses to this question seem to indicate that professional purchase decisions based on information gathered on the Web have a pattern of systematic purchase decisions. The largest category of users makes such decisions at least 1-2 times a month (30.1%) while the percentage of those who report never making such decisions (7.1%) is only a third of the percentage in the previous survey. The cumulative percentage of those making professional purchase decisions 3-10 times a month (15.7%) is also significantly greater than the closest category in the previous survey (4-10 times a month: 6.33%). Men make slightly more professional purchase decisions based on information gathered on the Web than women do but the main difference lies in the smaller percentage of men that report never making such decisions (5.5% versus 11.7%). Experience makes less of difference than it does in personal purchase decisions except in the category of those never making such decisions (5.5% experts, 16.7% novices).

Intentional Searches - Personal

Most of the personal purchase decisions were the result of intentional searches (72.2% "All" or "Most") with a significant increase over the previous survey (60% for the same categories). With the sharpening of this trend overall, when users are grouped according to age or experience the pattern remains essentially the same.

Intentional Searches - Professional

The same trend toward purchase decisions based on intentional searches can be seen among professional users (73.5% "All" or "Most"). In the professional realm, experience makes a significant difference since a progression can be seen from novices (50% "All" or "Most"), through intermediates (65.3% "All" or "Most"), to experts (80% "All" or "Most").

Ordering on the Web - Personal

When we move from searching for information and making a purchase decision to actually making the transaction the results are significantly different. We had already observed in previous surveys that gathering product information on the Web is more common than ordering over the Web. However, there are indications that the Web is becoming more established as a medium for placing orders. The largest category of respondents places orders most of the time (27.4%) which is almost double the percentage for the previous survey. The category of respondents who never place orders has been cut in half (13% from 27%) and those who do so half the time have grown significantly (19.1% from 11.6%). Experience counts here too with experts ordering all or most of the time (43%) much more than novices do so (26.4%).

Ordering on the Web - Professional

The trend is not as established in ordering over the Web for professional purchases. There still is a large category of users who never place such orders (19%). However, the categories of users that place such orders all or most of the time has grown significantly (from 11% in the previous survey to 32.3%). Europeans do so more than Americans (40.7% "All" or "Most" of the time: 40.7% Europeans, 32.5% Americans).

Paying on the Web - Personal

Just as ordering on the Web has become more established, so has paying on the Web. The largest category of users who have placed an order also pays for it on the Web every time (44.4%) which is a dramatic increase over the previous survey (27%). Those who never pay using the Web are a smaller group (12.5%) which is less than half the percentage from the previous survey. Men use are more likely than women to always pay using the Web and are less likely to never pay using the Web. Experience users are significantly more likely to pay always or most of the time using the Web (74.8%) than are novices (45.5%).

Paying on the Web - Professional

In similar fashion to the difference between personal and professional ordering, there is a larger group of professional buyers that never use the Web to make their payment (20.8%). However, the percentage of those who always or most of the time pay for professional purchases using the Web (46.5%) is significantly larger than the previous survey (16%).

Visiting Web Sites of Stores - Personal

A question raised by retailers has been, "Do the same people visit our Web site as visit our stores or is the Web site reaching a different audience?" This question provides an answer. The responses have been similar to those reported in the previous survey with the largest category among those who sometimes visit Web sites of stores they visit in person for - Personal purchases (41.4%) and slightly fewer said they never or rarely do so (36.5%). Europeans report they sometimes visit stores (26%) significantly less than Americans (43.3%).

Visiting Web Sites of Stores - Professional

The same question related to professional purchases rendered similar results with the largest group reporting they sometimes visit the Web site of stores they go to personally for professional purchases (38.9%) but a larger category of respondents said they rarely or never do so (46.9%). The largest category of those who often make such visits is given by novice users (41.7%). Women tend to do so more than men (visit often: 18.3% women, 7.3% men).

Reasons for Using the Web - Personal

Respondents could choose more than one answer to this question. The most cited reason for using the Web for personal shopping was convenience (78.4%) followed by no pressure from sales persons (66.4%), saving time (64.2%), and vendor information (60.7%).

Reasons for Using the Web - Professional

In the case of professional purchases, the most cited reason for using the Web was again convenience (76.1%) followed very closely by vendor information (75.2%). Saving time was also important (62.4%) and no pressure by sales persons was somewhat less important (57.5%). The availability of reviews and recommendations from experts is more important than for personal purchases as well (42.9% versus 30.8%).

 


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GVU's WWW Surveying Team
GVU Center, College of Computing
Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, GA 30332-0280