{"id":97311,"date":"2002-12-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2002-12-29T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/2002\/12\/29\/part-5-online-commerce-swims-against-the-tide-of-falling-consumer-confidence\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T04:14:28","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T09:14:28","slug":"part-5-online-commerce-swims-against-the-tide-of-falling-consumer-confidence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/internet\/2002\/12\/29\/part-5-online-commerce-swims-against-the-tide-of-falling-consumer-confidence\/","title":{"rendered":"Part 5: Online commerce swims against the tide of falling consumer confidence"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3 data-is-section=\"true\" data-wp-context=\"{&quot;id&quot;:&quot;online-commerce-swims-against-the-tide-of-falling-consumer-confidence&quot;}\" data-wp-interactive=\"{&quot;namespace&quot;:&quot;prc-block\\\/table-of-contents&quot;}\" id=\"online-commerce-swims-against-the-tide-of-falling-consumer-confidence\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Online commerce swims against the tide of falling consumer confidence<\/h3>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even with so many dot-com companies going out of business in the past two years, online purchasing by consumers has followed a steadily upward path.\u00a0 In March 2000, 40 million Americans \u2013 or 48% of Internet users \u2013 had purchased a product online.\u00a0 That number grew to 72 million \u2013 or 62% of Internet users \u2013 by the beginning of October 2002.\u00a0 This growth has occurred at a time when the United States has suffered a mild recession and tepid subsequent economic growth, and as consumer confidence has sagged.\u00a0 As the graph below shows, the trend lines for consumer confidence and growth in the number of e-consumers run in very different directions.[1. The Conference Board develops an index of consumer confidence based on monthly surveys of 5,000 U.S. households, asking about respondents\u2019 perspectives on current economic conditions, the employment outlook, and the economic outlook six months hence. An index value of 100 equals the index\u2019s value in 1985; the index\u2019s highest value was 144.7 in the spring of 2000.]<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"530\" height=\"322\" alt=\"E-consumers and consumer confidence\" src=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/internet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/media\/35AC40ABA21C43CAA6FE00386DC3D518.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter\"><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The main reason for the growth in the population of e-consumers is increasing comfort with online transactions for Internet users.\u00a0 Novice Internet users are hesitant to conduct transactions online, as they worry about the safety and security of sending a credit card number over the Internet.\u00a0 As they learn from friends and family that online transactions infrequently result in credit card theft \u2013 only 3% of Internet users have had a credit card number stolen online, according to our findings in 2000 \u2013 they make that first transaction.\u00a0 Once that barrier is crossed, logging on to buy something becomes routine for Internet users.\u00a0 Consumer comfort with the online world breeds growing confidence in ecommerce, even in the face of general declines in consumer confidence.\u00a0 This explains the growth in consumer buying online; according to BizRate.com, online retail sales in the United States totaled $10 billion in the third quarter of this year, a 37% increase from a year earlier.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All of this adds up to high expectations about finding product information online.\u00a0 Fully 63% of all Americans say they expect to find information at a store\u2019s Web site about a product they may want to purchase or learn more about.\u00a0 This breaks down to 79% of Internet users saying this and 38% of non-Internet users saying they expect to find product information online.\u00a0 And success rates run high for online purchases; 85% of those who have ever bought products online say that they \u201calways\u201d or \u201cmost of the time\u201d able to find and buy the products they seek.\u00a0 Three in ten (29%) of online buyers say they always find and buy the products they look for online.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"419\" height=\"177\" alt=\"If you needed information about a product or wanted to buy a product from a store, would you expect to be able to do so on the store\u2019s Web site?\" src=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/internet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/media\/D6402CE0CB304F8B98F7118C1D8C076D.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter\"><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With many people relying on the Internet for product information, it is not too surprising that having an online presence \u2013 even if a store\u2019s Web site is not transactions-enabled \u2013 helps bring people into merchants\u2019 doors.\u00a0 We presented Americans the following scenario about merchants\u2019 online presence: If a store provided only product information online, but did not sell products on its Web site, would you be more likely, less likely, or would it make no difference to you?\u00a0 About half of Americans (46%) said a Web site \u2013 even one that did not permit online purchasing \u2013 would make it more likely that they would go to the physical store to but the product.\u00a0 Only 6% said that such a Web site would make it less likely that they visit the store, with 45% of Americans saying it would make no difference.\u00a0 These numbers are the same for Internet users and non-users alike.\u00a0 In other words, having a Web site helps a business even if the site does not enable transactions.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"525\" height=\"126\" alt=\"If a store provides product information, but does not sell products online, are you more or less likely to go to the physical store to buy products there?\" src=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/internet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/media\/373D9397A44C47EF95E6B33C1B21E989.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter\"><\/figure><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Online commerce swims against the tide of falling consumer confidence Even with so many dot-com companies going out of business in the past two years, online purchasing by consumers has followed a steadily upward path.\u00a0 In March 2000, 40 million Americans \u2013 or 48% of Internet users \u2013 had purchased a product online.\u00a0 That number 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