Factors Influencing South African Internet Users Purchasing a Product or Service Online

Content Provider	Semantic Scholar
Author	Mohanlal, Ashwin.
Copyright Year	2006
Abstract	~ r-l Of the various channels to market, one that has probably received the greatest attention and produced the highest expectations of impact and adoption is the Internet (Wright and Cl ark, 2-005: 1). According to Feher and Towell (1997), and Paul (1996), as cited by Vijayasarathy and Jones (1998: 322), the Internet promises a number of benefits to both businesses and cons~._ Fl om a_~usiness perspective, the Internet can be a powerful medium to establish a " unique relationship with consumers (Pattinson and Brown, 1996: 31). For the consumer, the ~ Internet can be a valuable communication medium to facilitate controlled, non-linear search for up-to-date information, simulated product and service testing, and provide assistance with . '\ comparison-shopping and decision-making (Hoffman et ai, 1996: 26). I , ' v C~J The Internet has grown at an incredible rate. By March 2006, there were approximately 1 023 million Internet users worldwide (internetworldstats, 2006: 1). However, the Internet has n?! grown in South Africa at the pace that it has grown in first world countries such as America, . ..--Japan and the United Kingdom (internetworldstats, 2006: 1). According to Computer Industry v Almanac Inc (2005: 1), South Africa had 4 780 000 million Internet users in 2005. This is I approximately 0.5% of the worlds Internet users. / LGlobal studies have been conducted on why Internet users purchase online, but not much information is available on why South African Internet users purchase online. Moreover, this limited inf0l111ation is mainly available only commercially. South African Internet research companies such as Webcheck, World Wide Worx and eMarketer generally charge between · R6000 and R14 000 (2005 Rand prices) for South African online shopping studies, which generally deal more with Internet usage, buying behaviour in terms of products and services purchased, online shopping trends and to a limited extent factors that influence South African Internet users purchasing online. [Due to South Africa's diversity and unique situation III terms of its economy (what is ( coriiinonly referred to as it's digital divide), the factors that influence South African Internet f \,// \ users purchasing online may not be the same as the factors influencing Internet users from , other countries purchasing online.
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Language	English
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Resource Type	Article