To avoid risks, consumers tend to be failry thoughtful decision makers. Research has shown that consumers perceive risks associated with purchasing online and as a result online purchasing has not yet reached the numbers that were projected. In order for e-commerce to live up to its full potential, online retailers should gain an understanding of which perceived risks online purchasing consumers are most concerned with. This study aimed to assess the impact of perceived risk on online buying behaviour. Personal interview surveys were conducted in an emerging market whereby 200 respondents that have access to the internet were interviewed in selected malls with regards to their perceived risks when buying online. The results showed that perceived risk does have an impact on online buying behaviour, and that consumers that have not bought online in the past are likely not to do so in the future. The results show that characteristics of emerging markets are sufficiently distinct from developed markets in that consumers in developed markets seem to be more conservative when buying online. Marketers should therefore developed alternative marketing programs when communicating to these markets in an attempt to persuade consumers to buy online.

There is concern in the South African fruit industry that a large amount of fruit and money is lost every season due to breaks in the fruit export cold chain. The possibility of a large percentage of losses in a significant sector of the economy warranted further investigation. This article attempted to highlight some of the possible problem areas in the cold chain, from the cold store to the port, by analysing historic temperature data from different fruit export supply chains of apples, pears and grapes. In addition, a trial shipment of apples was used to investigate temperature variation between different pallets in the same container. This research has added value to the South African fruit industry by identifying the need to improve operational procedures in the cold chain.

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Background: South Africa exports a large variety of different fruit types and cultivars worldwide. Yet, there is concern in the South African fruit industry that too much fruit and money is lost each year due to breaks along the fresh fruit export cold chain.Objective: The objective of this article was to identify the influence of logistics activities on breaks along the South African fruit export cold chain. The focus is specifically on temperature sensitive fruit, exported in refrigerated containers to Europe and the United Kingdom through the Port of Cape Town. This supply chain was selected as this was the most accessible supply chain in terms of retrieving the necessary temperature data.Method: The cold chain was investigated from the cold store, through all segments, until the Port of Cape Town. Temperature data collected with temperature monitoring devices from different fruit export supply chains of grapes, plums and pome fruit (apples and pears) were analysed to identify the percentage of temperature breaks and the length of temperature breaks that occur at each segment of the cold chain.Results: The results show that a large number of breaks are experienced along South Africa’s fruit export cold chain, specifically at the interface between the cold store and the truck. In addition, the findings also show that there has been an improvement in the number of breaks experienced in the Port of Cape Town following the implementation of the NAVIS and Refcon systems.Conclusion: This article concludes by providing the fruit industry with areas that require addressing to improve operational procedures along the fruit export cold chain to help ensure that the fruit arrives at its final destination at optimal quality.

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