Internet Shopper Findings Are Valuable Tool for Online Retailers as Internet Sales are Expected to Triple this Holiday Season
Internet shoppers tend to be older, have higher incomes and are less brand loyal than traditional consumers or non-Internet shoppers, according to a recent survey conducted by Georgia State University marketing professor Dr. Naveen Donthu and co-author Adriana Garcia.
Donthu's and Garcia's in-depth telephone survey profiling the characteristics of the Internet shopper offered online retailers a rare look into a market that saw a tremendous increase in 1999 over previous holiday seasons. To profile Internet shoppers, trained interviewers called 2,000 randomly selected household telephone numbers and completed 790 telephone interviews with Internet shoppers and those who have never purchased from the Internet.
The survey findings, which have been published in the Journal of Advertising Research, were released to the media shortly before the holiday shopping season. Dataquest Inc. estimated the total Internet sales from October to December wouldreach $12.2 billion, compared with 1998's $4.5 billion.
"Researchers have concentrated much of their Internet research efforts on understanding the Internet user and the mechanics of the Internet," said Donthu and Garcia. "Lack of understanding e-consumer behavior motivated us to do this exploratory study. From a marketing and advertising point of view, it is very important to understand who the Internet shopper is and what his or her attitudes and opinions are. Our findings will give retailers a first-hand look at the shopper they can't otherwise see."
According to the survey's results, Internet shoppers differ from non-Internet shoppers in three main categories: socioeconomic, motivational and attitudinal characteristics. Specifically, Internet shoppers can be linked to the following traits:
- Internet shoppers are older and make more money than Internet non-shoppers.
- Internet shoppers are more convenience seekers, innovative, impulsive, variety seekers and less risk adverse than Internet non-shoppers.
- Internet shoppers are less brand and price conscious.
- Internet shoppers have a more positive attitude toward advertising and direct marketing than non-shoppers.
"These results indicate that young Internet users, who still are a higher percentage of Internet users as a whole, are mainly looking for fun and entertainment when surfing the Internet, while older users are more likely to purchase products on the Internet," Donthu said. "These results are useful in guiding the definition of target markets for Web commerce sites, as well as fine-tuning positioning and benefits offered by these sites to the Internet shopper."
Naveen Donthu is a professor of marketing at Georgia State University. He received his master's in management science and doctorate in marketing from the University of Texas. He is published in several marketing and advertising journals, including Marketing Science, the Journal of Marketing Research, the Journal of Consumer Research, the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, the Journal of Advertising, the Journal of Advertising Research and the Journal of Business Research.
Adriana Garcia currently works for the United Parcel Service of America. She is responsible for managing the customer relationship marketing process within the consumer strategies group. Her previous work experience was in market research and brand management at Procter & Gamble. She holds a bachelor's of science in computer engineering from the Universidad Simon Bolivar in Caracas, Venezuela, and master's of science in marketing from Georgia State University.
For More Information, contact:
Naveen Donthu, 404/413-7662, donthu@gsu.edu
