Participants
The survey research activity had a total of 100 participants with 63 of the being females and 37 being males. More females were ready to respond to the research question than males. Most of the respondents were middle-aged with an age range of 25-50. 40% of them were aged between 25-35 and rest 35-50. Few respondents were beyond 45 years old. Respondents included a considerable number of working class; beyond 40%, 30% students, and 30% non-working individuals. Of the non-working 30%, 10% were illiterate or less literate individuals with the rest being retirees. The survey activity was facilitated using the questionnaire as the research instrument with each of the respondents being given an opportunity to respond to the questionnaire independently (Phillips & Stawarski, 2008). In the course of answering the questions, the respondents were not allowed to consult (Myers, 2008). Independent personal opinions were highly regarded (Merriam & Merriam, 2009). The pie chart below provides a socio-economic categorization of the respondents as identified in this paragraph:
Figure1: Socio-economic Categorization of the Respondents
Source: Author
Data Collection
The researcher used qualitative research in collecting and analyzing data to answer the research question. As pointed out earlier, the main survey instrument was questionnaire with close-ended questions dominating over open-ended questions as it is deemed easier to use them to assess the opinion using them than it is when using open-ended questions (Brace, 2008). After analyzing the data, the researcher settled on the claims discussed in the next section.
Results and Discussion
Claim 1
Online shopper preference is growing at a higher rate today than offline shopper preference. Most people have higher access to the internet today than in the recent past and the need for internet connectivity both at home and at the workplaces is taking an upward trend (TrustBus et al., 2005). According to the research survey conducted, in spite of the fact that most people access the internet at school Wi-Fi and office, the number of people accessing such services at home also has a fair share (Flick, 2009). The survey results have been summarized in the chart below:
Figure2: Places to Access the Internet
Source: Author
Claim 2
Almost all, if not all, retailers should have online shopping facilities. This is because the number of individuals prioritizing online purchases over offline purchases is higher than those preferring the latter over the former. 40% of the survey respondents strongly agreed that retailers should have online shopping facilities while 45% agreed. Moreover, the percentage of individuals who asserted that they ‘very often’ and ‘often’ make online purchases were sizably higher than those who never as evidenced by the figures below:
Figure 3: Online Shopping Facilities for all Retailers
Source: Author
Figure 4: How often Customers make Online Purchases
Source: Author
In other studies, customers are prioritizing online retailers over offline retailers especially if the retailers are ready to deliver the commodity to the client’s premises (Scupola, 2013).
Claim 3
Online retailers should seek to ensure total buyer trust in an attempt to deal with customer doubts on transaction security and personal privacy. The reason behind this claim is the fact that most customers site transaction security and personal privacy as the main factors they consider when conducting online purchases. 52% of the respondents to the survey research questions agreed while others strongly agreed that one of the factors they consider is transactional security. Besides, 48% strongly agreed that personal privacy forms a key consideration when making online purchases (Dmofte, 2008).
Figure 5: Transactional Security as a Factor to Consider
Source: Author
Figure 6: Personal Privacy
Source: Author
Other research studies have identified personal privacy and transactional security as the main factors that customers consider when making online purchases (Kuhn, 2010). The researcher, therefore, used them in the research questionnaire.
References
Brace, I. (2008). Questionnaire's design: How to plan', structure and write survey materials for effective market research. London: Kogan Page.
Dimofte, C., Haugtvedt, C., & Yalch, R. (2008). Consumer psychology in a social media world. Berlin: Springer.
Flick, U. (2009). An introduction to qualitative research. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
Haugtvedt, C., Machleit, K., & Yalch, R. (2008). Online consumer psychology. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Kühn, S. (2010). A Comparison of Online Shopping Behavior of American and German Consumers. München: GRIN Verlag GmbH.
Merriam, S. B., & Merriam, S. B. (2009). Qualitative research': Guides to designing and implementation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Myers, M. D. (2008). Qualitative Research in Business & Management. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
Phillips, P. P., & Stawarski, C. A. (2008). Data collection methods: Planning for and collecting all types of data. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.
Scupola, A. (2013). Mobile opportunities and applications for e-service innovations. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference.
TrustBus (Conference), Katsikas, S. K., López, J., & Pernul, G. (2005). Trust, privacy, and security in digital business: Second international conference, TrustBus 2005, Copenhagen, Denmark, August 22-26, 2005: proceedings. Berlin: Springer.
