Why Customers Reluctant To Buy From Your Website?
Abstract
Fahim Akhter
Adam Marks
Zayed University College of Information Technology
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Daytona Beach, Florida
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
[email protected]
United States of America
[email protected]
Abstract
have demonstrated that customer's trust in the online company is an important factor to shop online. These studies also supported the claim that the friendly user interface and Web site quality such as system quality, information quality, and service quality are the principal determinant fostering consumer's trust in online company [2]. The Oxford dictionary defines trust as a believe that a person or thing is good, truthful, or strong. Moreover, trust is going through an experience knowing that there is a risk behind this experience. To review the above, trust is the judgment that comes after a long interaction with a second party withers this second party is a person, business, or even a website. It develops with time and experience. It is also based on strong characteristics and good quality that the customer defines and desires. The remainder of this paper is structured as follows: Section II discusses the research object, section III explains the rational of the study, section IV addresses the methodology, and section VII analyzes the outcome of this study.
-
It has become apparent to researchers that
traditional approaches are not sufficient to Joster trust Jor today's
pervasive
businesses resources,
are
online
adopting
businesses.
Individuals
e-commerce
as
and
means
of
improvements and generating revenue.
As
online transaction increase, it is important to understand why users still reserved on conducting business online. This
research
aims
to
overcome
this
situation,
by
developing a better understanding of online customers' trust perceptions in United Arab Emirates. This research paper identifies and discusses the Jactors that Joster trust in online business in United Arab Emirates. Corrective actions that could generate trust in e-commerce systems will be discussed to assist the online businesses who endeavor to serve online users. Keywords-trust;
security;
e-commerce;
privacy;
usaability
I.
INTRODUCTION
One the many challenges facing countries in the Middle-East today is preparing their citizens and businesses for to understand and utilize globalization and the communication revolution. Researchers, Policy-makers, and online-business executives, are concerned with the need to make their businesses competitive in the emergent electronic commerce (e commerce). E-commerce is the process of buying and selling products or services over the Internet to conduct a business [1]. E-commerce is divided into four categories: business to business, business to consumer, consumer to consumer and consumer to business. Trust is a word that is defined in many different ways. It is a word that is defined according to the environment and the situation. It is formed through experience, interaction with people and the intention of the person wither to trust or not. Trust is defined as a type of belief superior to faith and inferior to confidence. The research done by previous studies
II.
RESEACH OBJECTIVE
This research paper is mainly concerned with identifying factors that contribute to enhancing trust in an e-commerce. The paper also defines the elements that may qualify an e-commerce site as trusted. In addition, the paper present some of the practical solutions that might be offered to encourage the development of trust in an e-commerce site and help the organizations that may consider or plan to take their business online. Some researchers have shown that the forms that communicate trust are brand, navigation, fulfillment, presentation, up to date technology, privacy seals and third parties. These forms will be examined to add more knowledge about how these forms are important when developing an e-commerce site.
118
interviewee's in this study were presented with both closed-ended and open-ended questions. The set of open ended questions were used to encourage respondents to share their views, comments and experience in online shopping and trusting e commerce sites. This study was designed to focus on the core elements that affect their decision in shopping online and trusting specific sites and distrusting other e-commerce sites. The majority of respondents were well educated young adults, professional, comfortable with computer use and Internet access and already experienced online shopping. All respondents have had prior experience purchasing different items from the Internet such as computer hardware and software, books and CDs. Most of the respondents were referred to the e-commerce sites either by friends or by searching online. Most of the respondents have purchased items from well known sites such as Amazon.com and ebay.com.
III. RATIONALE The development of trust between online companies and customers is observed as an important factor to both the progress of e-commerce and the companies that do online businesses. Many studies [2, 3] clearly illustrate how vital is trust in e-commerce and business transactions. Nevertheless, the approach of designing a trusted website and gaining trust of customers is not yet well understood. Previous studies [4, 5] suggested that some of the main reason for customer feels of distrust are the privacy of their of information, quality of information about the product, use of personal information, trusted third parties and information of the privacy of transactions done by customers online. There are other factors which contribute towards customer buying decision such as perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness [4]. Perceived usefulness, compatibility and trust positively affect customer's attitude. Results also reveal that attitude positively affects consumer's purchase intention. The result shows that convenience of access to resources promotion, personalized design, personalized servic� and Internet knowledge influence customers purchase intention significantly [5]. The studies revealed that individuals common knowledge about the Internet foster trust in online shopping activities. People who know more about online shopping will trust and go shopping more online [5, 3]. While some of these studies presented some of the important factors that may help in gaining the trust of customers in online businesses, they did not show how these factors could be implemented, and how they could be transmitted to the customer through a well build e-commerce site. The aim of this study is to address these gaps.
Table 1: Demographic Description of Respondents
Demographic Information
Respondents
IV. METHODOLOGY The approach adopted in this study is to examine the factors that may help e-commerce sites gain the trust of online customers. Although a quantitative approach like distributing surveys is a valid approach to collect information about the customers qualitative individual interviews can deliver bette; results by getting a detailed direct responses from the interviewees. To get more results on the factors that affect trust on e-commerce sites, and to improve knowledge about the good design that communicate trust to customers an ten individual interviews were conducted with undergraduate students including both females and males. Demographic data of the participants are shown in Table 1. The interviews were carried out individually to have a controlled environment and record the individual responses clearly without interferences. Moreover, the
Count
Name
Gender
Educational level
1
(SN)
F
Bachelor
Online Shopping Experience 2 years
2
(SK)
F
Bachelor
2 years
3
(HA)
F
Bachelor
1 112 years
4
(NA)
F
Bachelor
1 112 years
5
(VC)
M
Bachelor
4-5 years
6
(MA)
M
Diploma
6 months
7
(HI)
F
Bachelor
1 year
8
(AN)
M
Bachelor
8 months
9
(KD)
F
Diploma
3 years
. . .
. . . . . . .
. . . .
. . .
. . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
. . .
. . . . . . .
. . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . .
30
(FA)
M
PhD
8 years
31
(SN)
F
Bachelor
2 years
After ensuring the confidentiality and privacy of each interviewee, each interview, lasting 15 to 20 minutes, was tape-recorded. Each interview began with some introductory questions about shopping online and the products that have been bought to
119
feedbacks, information availability, and presence of risk and security in e-commerce. The analysis of data suggests that respondents like to involve in online transactions. They perceive e-commerce as one of the main modes of doing business. The analysis also shows users have serious concerns about online security, and that user's level of trust when conducting online transactions correlates with the level of security of the site.
detect the experience that each interviewee had with online shopping. This was followed by open-ended questions to involve the participant and let himlher express their answers and experience freely and in their own way. Researchers' has chosen the interpretive qualitative approach as a hermeneutic circle and underlying assumption for this study [6] based on the nature of the research questions. In this study transcriptions of the tape-recorded interviews were used for analysis. The exploratory nature of the study requires the use of an approach which provides a deeper understanding of the research situation that can assist to overcome the problems associated with trust in e-commerce. This is best achieved through a knowledge generating approach such as an interpretive one. During the data analysis, it is attempted to set aside personal presumptions of a situation or experience. This method helps the researcher to go forward and backward repeatedly to understand the respondent's viewpoint clearly [6]. After each interview it becomes simpler to examine each interviewer's viewpoint and gather the information and the similar responses under one unique theme on which the results are based. For exploring users' trust perceptions in the study context, a purposive sample of Emirati citizens was recruited as participants in this study. In total, 51 respondents participated in the study. Participants have been selected due to their past experiences in online transactions or just surfmg the Web for entertainments, news and searching for information. The primary method of data collection was semi- structured interviews. The interviews' purpose was to explore respondents' perceptions and expectations regarding trust in UAE's online businesses. These interviews were digitally recorded and transferred into personal computer in order to be transcribed and prepared for the analysis. In the end, ten conceptual themes have extracted and discuss to analyze the study findings. Details of these findings are provided in the Result section. VII.
A. Motivation SN reported that "I can find products online that meet my specifications". SK said that the services or products that are not available in the UAE could be found online. HA agreed with SK in her opinion that "I can't find some books in the UAE, so I can find it online". HA added also that the reason for shopping online is availability and the good prices. Moreover, KD reported that "things that are not available in UAE market are available online". VC explained that online, he can find products that beneficial to him and online shopping is better than searching in the local market. In general, online shoppers would set off to online vendors when products are not available in the market. FA suggests that, online vendors seeking more customers should offer products and services that rare and unique in Emirati markets.
B. Few Online Customers The results of the interviews suggest that "fewer customers are shopping online in the UAE". SK believes this is due to local restrictions in the UAE. VC reported that many customers in the UAE are simply not aware of the available websites. She also suggested that many customers in the UAE do not have credit cards to conduct online transactions. MA HI said that "many websites are not secure". explained that "people in the UAE don't shop online due to security fear". "I would like to go the market and touch the fabric" according to EB. He also believes that Emiratis prefer physical mall environment, chat with salesperson and negotiate prices. He recommends that online vendors should address the reasons that restrict people from visiting virtual malls. MA suggested that online vendors should adopt target marketing by offering personalized coupons.
RESULTS
This study is designed to provide deep understanding of the relation between trust and e commerce sites. It also shows the important features that the customer of online shopping look for to trust an e-commerce site. In this study, the respondent's responses of trust and online shopping sites have demonstrated the important features to convey trust to online shoppers. From the interviews and data analysis nine themes involving perceptions and concerns emerged, they are; motivation, few online customers, privacy and use of personal information, choice of products, policies, usability, comments and
C.
Privacy and Use of Personal Information
The privacy and use of personal information is very important to customers. According to SN, "more people will shop online if they believe that the vendor would not sell or exchange their personal information with third party". Another respondent, SK, reports that "people want privacy and would like to protect their accounts". HA reported that "she is very
120
concern about her privacy and does not want her personal information to be leaked out". NA described the fair privacy and use of personal information statements foster trust "vague privacy statements or how the collected information of the customer is going to be used ..... cause mistrust". She emphasizes that customers do care for privacy and would like to know how their personal information is going to be used. Online vendors should offer opt-in and opt-out options before collecting information about users.
website. LG, reported, when asked if previous customers feedback about create trust in your mind "I don't trust these comments". G.
The nature of information available at the website site could affect the buying decision and assist in creating trust. According to HA, "information is important, you want to know the description of the product". VC reported, "You can believe these sites". Looking at this from a different angel, NA reported "Trust doesn't depend on the amount of information available on the site. The site could have information that has no added value". KD agrees with NA by saying "some website offer supplemental information that has no meaning to online customers". Online vendors should include the information and policies that is directly related to the products.
D. Choice of Products Online vendors should offer diverse range of products and service to choose from. SN reported that she would not buy merchandizes online if "mechanizes could be easily found in local markets at reasonable prices". On the other hand, SK reported that she is not interested in online products if "products take more time to be delivered" HA has a concern about the measurement of online garments "I am hesitant to buy cloths online because I am not sure they fits or looks good on me". FA prefers to go to local market to examine different style, colors and availability of wide range of products. MA explained "many products have to be seen or touched" is the reason for not buying certain products online. HI prefers to see products on hand to make the buying decision. AG said online vendors should promote "special offers and value as compare to physical markets". It appears that online customer target products that don't need to be seen like books, CDs and computers hardware/software. £.
H
Policies
VC says clear and sound policies from the vendors influence the customer's buying decisions. According to KD, the vendor policies, "gives you the feel of confidence that the site offers the information you need to purchase their product". Most of the respondents in this study comments positively on the importance of clear returns, shipping, refunds and exchange policies. /.
Security
HA reported "yes there is risk in online shopping, you never know if the vendor will deliver the product or not". According to VC, "There is always a risk when you try to use technology". HI stated "may be an Internet attack will happen when I am conducting
Usability
Most of the respondents agree that usability makes a huge impact on buying from the particular vendor. Respondents believe that user friendly interface and
my online shopping". Other respondents stated that they feel worried shopping online even at secure sites. MA reported that "I only choose secure websites" FA said that he is agreed with [7J that User experience on Web pages depends on many factors: rapidity in finding iriformation, efficiency in navigating content, user privacy and security of personal data, etc.
easy navigation affects their buying behavior. HA reported "it makes the shopping experience very easy. You don't want a complicated process". On the other hand, HI reported "I like easy navigation and do not want website freeze or crash. Online vendors should pay close attention to navigation, layout, and stability while planning a website. F.
Information Availability
V. CONCLUSION
Comments and Feedbacks
Although the benefits of e-commerce are obvious, some online shoppers remain hesitant to conduct business online, mainly due to their lack of trust on the level of security offered by online vendors, and the fear of exposing their personal and financial information. While security is one of the main concerns of online shoppers, other concerns such as usability and credibility also influence the level of trust of an e-commerce site. To address these concerns and consequently increase their market share, online vendors should assure customers of the
The respondent's have mix feeling in respect of previous customers comments and reviews available online. SN reported that "these comments foster trust". SK also reported positively saying "I think it is a good idea to have them available online". According to MA, "It is a good idea but these comments could be posted by company's employee". NA explained "I think these comments and feedback is important to trust or not the vendor". On the other hand, some respondents answered negatively on posting customer reviews and comments on the
121
privacy and confidentiality of their personal and financial information. This can be achieved by supporting statements, policies, and other technical measures. Online vendors should also ensure that the layout, colors, interface, and navigation of their site is customer-friendly. The site should have enough and relevant information about the products of the vendor, and it should allow customers to leave their positive or negative reviews. As the study reveal, presence of security is considered by Emirati customers as important requirement for e-commerce. Traditional security approaches are not sufficient to provide adequate security for today's pervasive online environment. Arrant security solution could not be offered [1]. While the findings of this study lead us to conclude that Emirati online shoppers concerns about privacy, usability and lack of trust are legitimate because they still suffer from these social vulnerabilities which create a barrier to the full engagement in online transactions, online environment in which shopping is carried out effortlessly and customers are in control requires a hard work by the website designer. VI. REFERENCES [1] Akhter, F.; "Gender and cultural differences in adoption of e business infrastructure in UAE," Computer and Iriformation Technology, 2008. CIT 2008. 8th IEEE International Conference on,
vol., no., pp.462-465, 8-11 July 2008
[2] Phung, K.D.; Yen, K.L.; Hsiao, M.H.; "Examining the factors associated with consumer's trust in the context of business-to consumer e-commerce," Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management, 2009. IEEM 2009. IEEE International Conference on,
vol., no., pp.2241-2245, 8-11 Dec. 2009
[3] Jui-Chin Jiang; Chun-An Chen; Chih-Chien Wang; "Knowledge and Trust in E-consumers' Online Shopping Behavior," Electronic Commerce and Security, 2008 International Symposium on, vol., no., pp.652-656, 3-5 Aug. 2008 [4] Han Hui; Hu Kejin; "Factors Affecting Consumer's Online Purchase Intention in China," Management and Service Science, 2009. MASS '09. International Coriference on, vol., no., pp.I-4, 2022 Sept. 2009 [5] Chang Yaping; Han Dan; Yan Jun; "The Impact of B2C Website Design Features on Consumers' Purchase Intention," Networks Computing,
Security,
Wireless
Communications
2009. NSWCTC '09.
and
Trusted
International Conference on,
vol.2, no., pp.17-20, 25-26 April 2009 [6] Sarker, S.; Lee, A.S.; "Does the use of computer-based BPC tools contribute to redesign effectiveness? Insights from a hermeneutic study," Engineering Management, IEEE Transactions on, vo1.53, no.l, pp. 130- 145, Feb. 2006 [7] B M. Maria, B, Marina, L, Barbara and A. Fahim, "Are social IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia June 2010
networks really "open" to am"
122
