Number Of Online Shoppers Jumps 600% In Three Years

Number Of Online Shoppers Jumps 600% In Three Years

The Age
11 July 2000
JANE SCHULZE

The number of Australians shopping online has risen 600 per cent in three years, according to research by Internet measurement company Red Sheriff.

Red Sheriff said only 2 per cent of people had bought online in 1997, but this had risen to 14 per cent this year.

The company expects one in three people to shop online within the next year.

Red Sheriff general manager for Australia and New Zealand, Ian Lowe, said the online shopping market was maturing, but customer expectations would continue to rise.

``Currently the shopping segment remains dominated by the early adopters," he said.

``They are experienced shoppers who have built up Net know-how over a series of stages, including trialling Internet banking or share trading before purchasing goods online." The qualitative and quantitative research, for which 1000 people were interviewed in May, found online shoppers fell into four main categories. These were:

* Search and destroy shoppers, motivated by efficiency, price and the ability to compare prices.

* Browsers, who also wanted to compare prices and were driven online by personal interest.

* Impulse shoppers, compelled by the excitement and entertainment aspect of the Net.

* Social shoppers, motivated by expert and their peers, the ability to interact and by the fact the Net was considered entertaining.

The research also identified seven core motivations for online shopping.

They were convenience, novelty, competitive pricing, more time to carefully consider purchases, more comprehensive product information, customer control and a commitment-free shopping environment. The top five online product purchases in 1998 were computer software, books, CDs, holidays and tickets and did not change the following year.

Internet security remains the greatest deterrent to online shopping, with 40 per cent of people saying it was the main reason they had not shopped on the Net.

``There seems to be a trend which is seeing more consumers taking greater control and developing their own solution such as separate credit cards solely for Net purchases, fax payments or via cheques," Mr Lowe said.

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