Perceptions towards Online Shopping: Analyzing the Greek University Students’ Attitude

Abstract

The sharp increase of Internet usage, as well as, the systematic progress of Information Technology have transformed the way goods are bought and sold, resulting to the exponential growth in the number of online shoppers. However, a lot of differences regarding online purchases have been revealed due to the various consumers' characteristics and the types of provided products and services. Therefore, understanding who are the ones consuming and why they choose to use or avoid the Internet as a distribution channel, is a vital issue for both e-commerce managers and consumer theorists. The scope of this paper is to examine the perceptions of Greek university students' adopters and non-adopters of online shopping in terms of demographic profile, expectations of online stores, advantages and problems related to online purchases. Moreover, the reasons for using or avoiding online shopping, as well as, the types of preferred products were studied. The research provides interesting insights on the online consumer behaviour, as the results show significant differences between the two groups of respondents.

Gender, Age, and Education: Do They Really Moderate Online Music Acceptance?

“…Online shopping makes it easy for adopters to find real bargains or compare shopping across different websites or within a particular website as well (Saprikis et al, 2010). Atkinson and Kydd (1997) found significant effects of Ease of Use on the Internet usage for entertainment.…”

“…Adopters perceived the positive impact of online shopping to a higher degree compared to non-adopters in terms of the Internet that provides them with the ability to shop abroad and purchase any time of the day (Saprikis et al, 2010). Perceived value of downloadable music, in terms of expected value for money, that is relative to other outlets for disposable income, should be stressed by the marketers.…”

“…Computer hardware/software and travel tickets were the most commonly purchased categories of products, followed by consumer electronics, CDs/DVDs and books (Saprikis, Chouliara, & Vlachopoulou, 2010). Moreover, who buys online and why, are crucial questions for ecommerce managers and consumer researchers if online sales are to continue to grow through increased purchases by current buyers and by converting those who have not yet purchased online (Norazah et al, 2007).…”

Consumers Perceived Online Purchasing

“…A multi-item questionnaire was arranged for the purposes of the determining consumers perceive online purchasing (Saprikis et al, 2010;Delafrooz et al 2009;Teo, 2006;Demirel, 2010;Turan, 2008;Uzel ve Aydo du, 2010;Silkü, 2009;Monsuwe et al 2004). The survey form was composed of three sections.…”

“…In those studies the consumer attitude towards online shopping (Saprikis, 2010;Delafrooz at al. 2009;Mert, 2012;Tabatabaei, 2009;Demirel, 2010;Tan,2012), the factors affecting the consumers' attitude towards online shopping Hanzaee and Khodayari 2011;Mert, 2012;Raje & Khanna, 2012), the negative aspects of online shopping according to the consumers (Karabulut, 2013, Algür & Cengiz, 2011Naiyi, 2004;Samadi and Nejadi, 2009, Noort at al 2007, Suresh & Shashikala, 2011) the building of trust towards online shopping (Yoo & Danthuu, 2001;Lee & Turban, 2001;Büttner & Göritz;2008;Kim et al 2009;Tan, 2012), online shopping behavior (Silkü, 2009) have been emphasized.…”