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IJRDM 33,2

Attitude and age differences in online buying

Patricia Sorce, Victor Perotti and Stanley Widrick
College of Business, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York, USA
Abstract
Purpose This paper examines the shopping and buying behavior of younger and older online shoppers as mediated by their attitudes toward internet shopping. Design/methodology/approach Over 300 students and staff from a US university completed a survey regarding their online shopping and buying experiences for 17 products. Findings The results show that, while older online shoppers search for signicantly fewer products than their younger counterparts, they actually purchase as much as younger consumers. Attitudinal factors explained more variance in online searching behavior. Age explained more variance in purchasing behavior if the consumer had rst searched for the product online. Research limitations/implications The limitations of the present research are threefold. First, the sample was restricted to university faculty, staff and students. Second, a better measure of the hedonic motivation construct is needed. Third, additional independent measures such as income should be included to understand the additional demographic factors related to online purchase. Practical implications Retailing managers can make use of the results as describing multifaceted nature of online shopping and buying behavior. Age differences (in both directions) were seen for many product categories. In addition, results indicate that how one measures online shopping impacts on ones understanding of age effects on internet shopping. Age was negatively correlated with online pre-purchase search but was positively correlated with online purchasing when pre-purchase search behavior was taken into account. Originality/value The present study advances knowledge of the nature of the relationships among age, attitudes, and online shopping and buying behavior. Keywords Electronic-commerce, Online operations, Age groups, Shopping Paper type Research paper

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International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management Vol. 33 No. 2, 2005 pp. 122-132 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0959-0552 DOI 10.1108/09590550510581458

Introduction The internet has typically been described as a young mans medium. Young men have also been regarded as the typical prole of the early adopters of online shopping. However, as the internet has become more ubiquitous, the prole of the online shopper has come to resemble that of the general population (Stores, 2001). For example, in the year 2000 in the USA, women comprised almost 60 percent of the online shoppers. In a report by Jupiter Media Metrix, consumers age 50 and older now comprise 16 percent of new online shoppers in the USA and this number is expected to double by 2006 (Tedeschi, 2002). The purpose of this research is to determine the relative impact of age and attitude towards shopping online in predicting the likelihood to shop and buy online. The rst section of the introduction will present a review of the ndings on shopping attitudes and motivations with particular focus on online shopping. The next section will discuss the demographic prole of online shoppers and examine whether their attitudes towards shopping online vary by demographic segment. Then, we will conclude with the research questions of the present study.

Online shopping attitudes and behavior Motives for shopping in traditional retail channels have long been a focus of consumer research. Babin et al. (1994) identied two dominant shopping motives: shopping for fun (hedonic) and shopping with a goal in mind (utilitarian). Using a qualitative analysis, Wolnbarger and Gilly (2001) showed that these two motives are also typical of online shoppers. Hedonic shoppers (referred to as experiential shoppers in the Wolnbarger and Gilly study) are motivated by their involvement with a class of products that directs their browsing the internet through auction sites and visits to hobby-related sites. In other words, the hedonic shopper typically seeks a product specic online shopping experience. Goal-oriented shoppers are characterized by four motives for online shopping: convenience, informativeness, selection, and the ability to control the shopping experience. There is considerable research to support their conclusion. For example, surveys conducted by the Graphics, Visualization and Usability group at Georgia Tech (1994-1998) concluded that the web delivers convenience and time savings for the online shopper. Alreck and Settle (2002) found that internet shopping was viewed as saving more time than traditional modes of shopping. Bhatnagar et al. (2000) found that customers perceived convenience of shopping on the internet had a positive impact on online purchase behavior. However, Ramaswami et al. (2000-2001) found that for those who use online information sources for buying nancial products, time availability was not associated with the propensity to conduct an online search for or purchase of these products. That is, those who were pressured for time did not use online shopping more than those who were not pressured for time. Regarding Wolnbarger and Gillys informativeness dimension of goal-oriented shoppers, the internet also provides a rich source of information for many products (Evans and Wurster, 1999). Online shoppers are using the internet as one of many sources of information in their pre-purchase search activities. Ramaswami et al. (2000-2001) reported that online shoppers of nancial products used both online channels and personal channels (e.g. a broker) in their information search activities. Further, in a study of new car buyers, Ratchford et al. (2001) found that heavy users of internet sources were also heavy users of printed sources of information such as car ratings books and dealer brochures. An alternative framework (Korgaonkar and Wolin, 1999) for shopping motivation identied seven motivations for web use. These were: social escapism; transaction security and privacy; information; interactive control; socialization; non-transactional privacy; and economic motivation. Their study investigated the motivations for web usage in general and online purchasing. Using ever-having-purchased-online as the dependent measure, the signicant motivational predictors were transaction-based security concerns, interactive control, conversation motives, and economic motives. Joines et al. (2003) extended the framework of Korgaonkar and Wolin by assessing the impact of these motives on the amount of time spent searching for products online and the frequency of internet purchase for products such as investments, travel, and computer related products. Only the economic motivation (e.g. enjoy the convenience of shopping online) and transaction-based security concerns (e.g. worried about the security of nancial information) were found to be marginally statistically signicant predictors of the amount of time searching for products online. For frequency of online purchasing, four motives were signicant predictors: information motivation

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(e.g. quick access to large volumes of information), interactive control, economic motivation, and transaction-based security concerns. Bhatnagar et al. (2000) examined perceived risk as it inuences consumer internet shopping behavior. They dened two types of risk: product category risk and nancial risk. High product risk was dened as situations where the product was technologically complex, satised ego needs of the purchaser, was high priced, and was sold based on its feel or touch. High nancial risk was dened by fears about the safety of consumers nancial information online. The results indicated that increases in both types of risk generally decreased the likelihood of online purchase behavior. This is consistent with the results from Vellido et al. (2000) where online purchase behavior was best predicted by consumer risk perception of shopping on the internet. In summary, consumer online shopping motives vary but they may be broadly classied as goal-oriented (convenience, getting a good bargain) and for the fun of acquiring new information about an area of interest to them. Online shopping is positively inuenced by the perception of convenience and informativeness in making a good choice. It is negatively inuenced by high perceived risk. The following section will examine whether these shopping motives and attitudes towards the online shopping vary by age of the consumer. Who will buy online? Much of the early research on internet shopping behavior has focused on predicting the type of consumer who is likely to use the internet to search for and buy products. Bellman et al. (1999) investigated several predictors for whether an individual will buy online. These authors concluded that demographic variables such as income, education and age have a modest impact on the decision of whether to buy online. They found that the most important determinant of buying on the web was previous behavior such as earlier online purchases. Once people are online, whether they buy there and how much they spend has more to do with whether they like to buy online and whether the time they have for buying is limited (Bellman et al., 1999, p. 37). This is consistent with Forrester Research that concluded demographic factors such as age, race and gender dont matter anywhere near as much as the consumers attitudes toward technology (Modahl, 2000). In examining the relationship between age and internet shopping motivations, Dholakia and Uusitalo (2002) found that younger consumers reported more hedonic and utilitarian benets of online shopping than older consumers. They did not measure online search or buying behavior, only the perceived benets of shopping. The relative impact of demographic factors such as age when compared with attitudinal or motivational factors has only been addressed by a small number of studies. Korgaonkar and Wolin (1999) found that motivational factors as well as age and gender impacted the likelihood of online purchasing. In their study, older males were the group that had the highest online purchase behavior. This is consistent with the results of Donthu and Garcias (1999) research, who found that older internet users were more likely to buy online when compared to younger users, even though the younger users had more positive attitudes towards internet shopping. Joines et al. (2003) found that web usage motivations signicantly predicted both online purchasing and online information searching for products or services. When age and other demographic factors were added to the equation, the incremental R 2 for

these variables improved the t but by a rather small amount. They concluded that motivational factors were more powerful than demographic factors in predicting online buying. It is interesting to note that the effect of the age variable was opposite of that found by Korgaonkar and Wolin: Joines et al. (2003) found that their younger respondents were more likely to shop online. To summarize, the relative importance of demographic factors versus shopping motivations and attitudes in predicting online shopping remains an open question. The challenge in summarizing the previous research is exacerbated by the fact that the dependent variables vary widely among the studies. Some studies measured self-reported shopping or searching behaviors; others used reported purchase behavior; still others measured shopping intentions and attitudes towards the internet as a retail channel. The research conducted by Joines et al. (2003) is noteworthy because it included both measures of searching for products online and purchasing products online. However, the ability to discern the relative importance of the individual demographic factors was hampered by their relatively small sample size n 59: In addition, there are mixed results when age was found to be a signicant predictor of buying. In one study, younger consumers more likely buy online; in two other studies, older consumers were more likely to buy. The current study seeks to extend the investigation of the relative impacts of age versus attitudinal factors in predicting internet shopping. The following research questions will be addressed in this study: (1) What is the impact of age on searching for and purchasing products online? (2) Do online shopping attitudes vary by age? (3) What is the relative impact of age and attitudes in predicting online shopping and purchase behavior? Method A four-page questionnaire was constructed with a mixture of open-ended and rating-scale questions about experience with and attitudes toward both searching for products and buying them online. Sample The sampled population was from the staff and students of a university in northeast USA. University staff members were selected using the Staff Council mailing list, which was grouped into six blocks. One-half of the voting blocks were selected n 683 to receive the questionnaire via interofce mail. A notication was sent to all staff via e-mail requesting their participation in the survey two days before the questionnaires were mailed. The response rate was 29 percent (198 questionnaires were returned.) The students were selected from undergraduate and MBA classes in a college of business. Professors teaching classes in the summer of 2001 were asked if the researchers could administer a short questionnaire in their classes at the break. All professors who were contacted agreed. A total of 136 surveys were completed (69 undergraduate and 67 graduate students). Questionnaire design There were three dependent variables. The rst dependent variable queried if the respondent had ever used the internet to shop for information about a list of

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17 products. On the questionnaire, shop for was dened as using the internet to research, browse for, or compare the prices of products or services, but not necessarily purchase the item. The products were: CD/music, garden tools, toys, wine, massage services, jewelry, travel services and sporting goods, vitamins, insect repellant, pain relief medication, virus detection software, tires, dishwasher, security systems, vacuum cleaners, and insurance. The second dependent variable was whether they had ever purchased each of the products online. The third dependent variable was the percentage of products they purchased online given they had shopped for it online (number purchased/number shopped for). The two key independent variables for the present study were age and attitudes towards shopping on the internet. Internet shopping attitudes were measured on the following statements where respondents were asked to rate their level of agreement with each (ve-point scale). (1) I nd commercial web sites (e.g. manufacturer or retail) more helpful than informal chat rooms. (2) I prefer to learn about products on the web and then buy them using the phone or at the retail store. (3) When I shop online, I look for price information. (4) When I shop online, I look for brand information. (5) When I shop online, I look for information about dealers that carry the product. (6) It is easy to shop for things online. (7) I can shop for products online that are not available or are hard to nd off-line. (8) Shopping online saves time. (9) It is easier to compare shop online (10) Shopping online avoids the hassle of going to a store (11) I like to shop online because I can do it any time of the day or night. (12) I like to shop online. (13) I just like to shop, period. The second independent variable, age, was dened by three categories: under 29, 30-49 and 50 or over. Results In an initial question, 91.5 percent of all respondents indicated that they had ever used the internet to search for and/or purchase any product or service online. There were no signicant differences by age levels. Online shopping (both searching and purchase) by age For the cross tabulation analyses, the age variable was divided into two groups a younger group (131 individuals) who were 29 years old or less (42.5 percent) and an older group (177 individuals) who were age 30 or older (57.5 percent). This was done because of the problem of empty cells in the chi-square analysis when the three-level age variable was used due to the relative low number n 45 of respondents in the over-50 age category. The results for the product categories tested are presented in

Table I. Of the 17 products, eight showed age differences in percentage of people who shopped for that product. In seven of these eight instances, the younger age group reported shopping online more for these products than the older age group. For products purchased, 4 of the 17 products showed age differences. With two of these (toys and garden tools), the older age group reported more online purchases. With the other two products (insurance and massage services), the younger group reported more online purchases. Table II presents the average number of products shopped for and purchased online summed across all 17 product categories. In this analysis and in the remaining ones, we used the three-level age breakdown. Younger respondents reported shopping online for more of the products tested than older shoppers. Specically, respondents under the age of 30 reported an average of 4.153 products shopped for versus the oldest group who reported shopping for an average of 2.02 products. (F 2; 305 13:98; p 0:0001). With regard to purchasing behavior, the youngest online shoppers reported buying an average of 1.71 products while the oldest shoppers reported buying an average of 1.16 products. This difference was not signicant.
Percentage who have shopped for product online , 30 30 p 81.7 71.0 39.7 43.5 35.9 29.8 30.5 19.8 22.9 12.2 11.5 3.8 2.3 4.5 4.6 0.8 0.0 66.7 55.4 45.2 38.6 18.1 17.0 12.5 16.5 14.1 9.0 2.3 10.2 6.2 4.8 4.0 1.7 1.7 *** *** *** *** *** ** *** ** Percentage who have purchased product online , 30 30 p 52.7 41.2 19.1 19.8 6.1 10.7 4.6 1.5 9.9 0.8 3.1 0.0 0.0 0.5 0.8 0.0 0.0 44.1 34.5 30.5 21.0 6.2 8.5 0.0 3.4 6.8 2.3 0.0 2.8 0.0 0.0 0.6 1.1 0.6

Attitude and age differences in online buying 127

Product category Age Travel services CD/music Toys Sporting goods Jewelry Virus detection software Insurance Wine Vitamins Tires Massage services Garden tools Dishwasher Vacuum cleaners Pain relief medicine Security system Insect repellant

**

***

** *

Notes: ***99 percent condence; **95 percent condence; *90 percent condence

Table I. Percentage of respondents who shop for and/or purchased each product online (n 308 with 131 people under age 30 and 177 people 30 or older)

Average number of Average number of Purchased/shopped products shopped for products purchased for percentage Respondents under the age of 30 Respondents 30-49 years Respondents age 50 or older F-test (degrees of freedom) Signicance 4.15 3.64 2.02 13.98 (2,305) 0.0001 1.71 1.78 1.16 6.8 (2,305) 0.063 42.3 percent 54.1 percent 56.9 percent 4.12 (2,278) 0.017

Table II. Average number of products that older and younger survey respondents indicated shopping for online or purchasing online

IJRDM 33,2

A third dependent variable was created that measured the percentage of products purchased online given the respondent had shopped for the product online (called ratio). Given that they had used the internet to shop for a product, the oldest shoppers were more likely to purchase online than the youngest shoppers: 56.9 percent versus 42.3 percent. This difference is signicant at a 0.017 level. In all three dependent measures, the mean for the 30-49 year old age group fell between the two extremes. Online shopping attitudes In order to gain a better understanding of these online attitude variables, a factor analysis was conducted on the 13 statements to reduce the number to their underlying constructs. Three factors emerged that explained 50.1 percent of the variance. The factor loadings are presented in Table III. The three factors were labeled convenience (six statements; with 30.7 percent of variance explained); information (three statements; with 11.5 percent of variance explained); and shopping experience orientation (2 statements; 8.6 percent of variance explained). A reliability test was conducted for all three factors. The six statements that loaded highest on the convenience factor yielded an a of 0.83. The three statements that loaded on the information factor yielded an a of 0.63. The two statements for the shopping experience factor yielded an a of 0.15. Because of the low reliability, this third factor was eliminated from further analyses. Factor scores were calculated and submitted to an analysis of variance with age as the independent variable. The mean factor scores are presented in Table IV. Age differences were found for the convenience factor (F 2; 305 5:94; p 0:003) but not the information factor p 0:765:
Factor 3 shopping experience 0.357 0.606 0.049 0.098 0.051 2 0.079 2 0.156 2 0.091 2 0.083 0.169 0.176 0.188 0.748 8.6 percent

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Scale 1-5 where 1 strongly disagree and 5 strongly agree I nd commercial web sites (e.g. manufacturer or retail) more helpful than informal chat rooms I prefer to learn about products on the web and then buy them using the phone or at the retail store When I shop online, I look for price information When I shop online, I look for brand information When I shop online, I look for information about dealers that carry the product It is easy to shop for things online I can shop for products online that are not available or are hard to nd off-line Shopping online saves time It is easier to comparison shop online Shopping online avoids the hassle of going to a store I like to shop online because I can do it any time of the day or night I like to shop online I just like to shop, period. Percent variance explained Total variance explained 50.1 percent

Factor 1 convenience 0.186 2 0.130 0.238 0.123 0.049 0.731 0.447 0.736 0.734 0.670 0.737 0.724 0.033 30.7 percent

Factor 2 information 0.205 0.124 0.689 0.756 0.737 0.129 0.329 0.105 2 0.048 0.120 0.163 0.272 2 0.117 11.5 percent

Table III. Factor analysis among shopping attitude statements using varimax rotation with missing values replaced by the mean

In general, younger respondents had more positive attitudes towards shopping online. Pairwise contrast t-tests were conducted to determine the locus of the difference. The convenience factor showed a signicant difference between the youngest and oldest age group p 0:002 and between the 30-49 year old age group and the oldest age group p 0:002: Online shopping attitudes and age as predictors of online shopping behavior Three regression analyses were conducted, one for each of the dependent variables. The independent variables in each regression were the two online shopping attitude factor scores and a dummy age variable where the youngest age group (under age 30) was coded 0 and the oldest age group (over age 50) was coded 1. The respondents age 30-49 were excluded from the analysis. Using the model suggested by Joines et al. (2003), the variables were entered in two steps. The rst step included only the dummy age variable. The second step added the two factor scores. This allows us to determine the change in R 2 to assess how much the attitude measures added to the explained variance. These regression results are presented in Table V. The rst regression table shows that online shopping was signicantly associated when age alone was in the model. When the two attitude variables were added in the second model, all three variables made signicant contributions to the equation. Both models were signicant, with the rst explaining 14.5 percent of the variance and the second explaining 27.5 percent. The second regression table shows that online buying was signicantly associated with age when added alone in the rst model. For the second model, only the convenience and information factors were signicant. The age variable was not signicant in the second model. Though both regression equations were signicant, the rst model with age alone explained only 1.9 percent of the variance and the second model explained 12.1 percent of the variance. The third regression shows that the percentage of products purchased if shopped for online was signicantly associated with age but neither of the attitude measures. There was not a signicant regression equation in the second model where all three variables were present. The R 2 for the rst model was 2.8 percent and for the second was 2.5 percent. Again, the positive coefcient indicates that older shoppers are more likely to buy online once they have searched for a product. In sum, these results provide evidence that attitude toward shopping on the internet had more of an impact on peoples likelihood to shop or search for information online than did age. However, age had a greater impact than shopping attitudes on the likelihood to buy online given that the respondent had shopped online for the product. Though older consumers were less likely to search for a product online, once they had done so, they were more likely to buy it online than younger shoppers.
Convenience factor score Respondents under the age of 30 0.074 Respondents 30-49 years 0.074 Respondents age 50 or older 2 0.475 Anova p-value F(2,305) 5.937, p 0.003 Test between youngest and older group 3.09, df 174, p 0.002 Test between youngest and age group 30-49 t 0.001, df 261, p 0.999 Information factor score 0.037 2 0.004 2 0.088 p 0.76

Attitude and age differences in online buying 129

Table IV. Age by attitude analysis

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Unstandardized coefcients B Standard error Dependent variable: online shopping a Model 1 Constant 4.153 Age 2 2.13 Model 2 Convenience factor score 0.769 Information factor score 0.512 Age 2 1.67 Dependent variable: online purchase b Model 1 Constant 1.71 Age 2 0.554 Model 2 Convenience factor score 0.464 Information factor score 2.57 Age 2 0.268 Dependent variable: purchase to shop ratio c Model 1 (Constant) 0.42 Age 0.146 Model 2 Convenience factor score 0.047 Information factor score 0.009 Age 0.168

Standardized coefcients Beta t Signicance

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0.194 0.384 0.151 0.167 0.364 0.134 0.266 0.108 0.118 0.259 0.032 0.069 0.030 0.031 0.070

21.38 2 0.388 2 5.56 0.337 5.08 0.198 3.07 2 0.299 2 4.57 12.7 2 0.156 2 0.209 0.315 4.31 0.155 2.17 2 0.075 2 1.03 13.23 2.14 1.56 0.29 2.42

0.0001 0.0001 0.0001 0.002 0.0001 0.0001 0.038 0.0001 0.031 ns 0.0001 0.034 ns ns 0.017

0.167 0.124 0.023 0.192

Table V. Regression analyses using age and factor scores as independent variables

Notes: aR 2 model 1 0.150, p 0.0001; R 2 model 2 0.275, p 0.0001; bR 2 model 1 0.024, p 0.038; R 2 model 2 0.121, p 0.0001; cR 2 model 1 0.022, p 0.034; R 2 model 2 0.048, p 0.075

Discussion The analyses presented in this paper seek to clarify the relationships among age, attitudes toward online shopping, and the actual behavior of shopping online (including both search and purchase). The results of the present study were: . When examining age alone, younger consumers searched for more products online than did older consumers, but they did not buy more online. Online buying varied by product category as predicted by age-related interests (e.g. older consumers searched for more garden tools and younger consumers searched for more music). . Younger consumers were more likely to agree that online shopping was more convenient than older consumers. . Attitudinal factors explained more variance in predicting online searching and buying behavior than did age. Those with more positive convenience and information attitudes towards online shopping had higher online searching behavior and purchasing behavior. . Age explained more variance than attitudinal factors in the percentage of products purchased online if shopped for online. If they searched for a product online, older consumers were more likely to buy the product online than younger consumers.

The objective of this research examined how age and attitude together predicted searching and purchasing products online. In examining the rst regression analysis, age, convenience and information attitudinal factors are signicant predictors of searching for products online. For purchasing alone, only the convenience and information factors were signicant. For the last variable, the percentage of online purchase given online search, only age was a signicant predictor. Older shoppers in this study purchased as many products as younger shoppers, despite the fact that they actually searched for fewer items than their younger counterparts. The reluctance of older consumers to spend the time and effort to shop for products online may reect their less positive attitude towards internet shopping, and specically, a lack of agreement that online shopping is more convenient than traditional shopping. In examining the R 2 values among all of the regression equations in the present study, the R 2 for the combined model was lowest for the ratio (purchase-if-shopped-for) dependent measure. This indicates that there are likely to be other predictor variables beyond those included in this study. On the basis of the results of Donthu and Garcia (1999), income is a likely candidate. In examining how age impacts online shopping behavior, in the preliminary Yes/No item querying if they had ever shopped online, there were no signicant differences among the three age levels. However, when asked if they had searched for or purchased specic products or services online, younger shoppers reported searching for more products than the older group. Though the trend was in the same direction, there was not a signicant difference in terms of the number of products purchased online by age. These results are the opposite of Joines et al. (2003) who found that age did not impact search behavior but did impact purchase behavior, and younger consumers purchased more than older consumers. In the present study, younger consumers were more likely to search online than older consumers. And when the search for the product was taken into consideration, older consumers were more likely to purchase once they had searched for the item online. This result is in keeping with Donthu and Garcias results who found that those who had ever purchased from the internet were older and had higher incomes. For electronic commerce professionals, the results imply that different marketing approaches are necessary for the different consumer age segments. Older consumers may need to be induced to get online in the rst place, while younger consumers will require enticement to translate their shopping and browsing into actual purchasing. Retailing researchers will note that our results demonstrate the multifaceted nature of online shopping and buying behavior. For example, age differences (in both directions) were seen for some product categories and not others. In addition, our results indicate that how you measure online shopping impacts our understanding of age effects on internet shopping. Age was negatively correlated with online pre-purchase search but was positively correlated with online purchasing when pre-purchase search behavior was taken into account. The limitations of the present research are three-fold. First, the sample was restricted to university faculty, staff and students. A more diverse and representative population is required. Second, the hedonic motivation measure was not reliable. A better measure of this construct is needed. Third, additional independent measures such as income should be included to understand the primary demographic factors related to online purchase. Notwithstanding these concerns, the present study

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advances our knowledge of the nature of the relationships among age, attitudes, and online shopping and buying behavior.
References Alreck, P. and Settle, R. (2002), The hurried consumer: time-saving perceptions of internet and catalogue shopping, Journal of Database Marketing, Vol. 10 No. 1, pp. 25-35. Babin, B., Darden, W. and Grifn, M. (1994), Work and/or fun: measuring hedonic and utilitarian shopping value, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 20, pp. 644-56. Bellman, S., Lohse, G. and Johnson, E. (1999), Predictors of online buying behavior, Communications of the ACM, Vol. 42 No. 12, pp. 32-8. Bhatnagar, A., Misra, S. and Rao, H.R. (2000), On risk, convenience and internet shopping behavior, Communications of the ACM, Vol. 43 No. 11, pp. 98-105. Dholakia, R. and Uusitalo, O. (2002), Switching to electronic stores: consumer characteristics and the perception of shopping benets, International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Vol. 30 No. 10, pp. 459-69. Donthu, N. and Garcia, A. (1999), The internet shopper, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 39 No. 3, pp. 52-9. Evans, P. and Wurster, T. (1999), Blown to Bits: How the New Economics of Information Transforms Strategy, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA. Joines, J., Scherer, C. and Scheufele, D. (2003), Exploring motivations for consumer web use and their implications for e-commerce, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 20 No. 2, pp. 90-108. Korgaonkar, P. and Wolin, L. (1999), A multivariate analysis of web usage, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 38 No. 1, pp. 7-21. Modahl, M. (2000), Now or Never: How Companies Must Change to Win the Battle for the Internet Consumer, Harper Business, New York, NY. Ramaswami, S., Strader, T. and Brett, K. (2000-2001), Determinants of online channel use for purchasing nancial products, International Journal of Electronic Commerce, Vol. 5 No. 2, pp. 95-118, Winter. Ratchford, B., Telukdar, D. and Lee, M. (2001), A model of consumer choice of the internet as an information source, International Journal of Electronic Commerce, Vol. 5 No. 3, pp. 7-22, Spring. Stores (2001), Consumer trends in online shopping, Vol. 83 No. 1, pp. 5-9. Tedeschi, B. (2002), Though there are fewer new Internet users, experienced ones, particularly the middle aged, are increasingly shopping online, New York Times, 4 March 2002, C.7. Vellido, A., Lisboa, P. and Meehan, K. (2000), Quantitative characterization and prediction of online purchasing behavior: a latent variable approach, International Journal of Electronic Commerce, Vol. 4 No. 4, pp. 83-104, (Summer). Wolnbarger, M. and Gilly, M. (2001), Shopping for freedom, control and Fun, California Management Review, Vol. 43 No. 2, pp. 34-55. Further reading GVU (1998), GVUs 10th WWW User Survey, available at: www.gvu.gatech.edu/user_surveys/ survey-1998-10/

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