Sunday, September 22, 2019
The Status Of E-Commerce Essay Example for Free
The Status Of E-Commerce Essay Introduction            This chapter present the findings of the survey completed. The survey was conducted through the distribution of questionnaires. Such instrument contained three parts with a total of 21 questions. Each part dealt with a distinct subject matter which is vital and relevant to the aims of this research. All questions are centered on online shopping through Chinese websites and the attitudes and beliefs of people that influence their choices. The discussion will follow the flow of the questionnaire beginning with demographical questions.            A total of 250 questionnaires were distributed. However, only 221 were considered valid. The remaining 29 were either never returned or invalid due to the incomplete answers or information. Demographics of the Sample            Determining the demographic characteristics of the respondents is a vital element of any research. Such demographic information allows the researcher to create a profile of the sample. Furthermore, demographic characteristics may influence certain responses from the sample which may then lead to vital information for the research.            Of the 221 respondents, 125 were male and 96 were female. These figures are conducive to the study as the sample is not dominated by either gender. The ages of the respondents were varied. However, the greatest number of respondents placed their age between 19 and 29. 82 responded that they were between 19 and 29 while 63 responded that they were between 30 and 39. Shown below are the graphs of such findings: It was also determined that most of the respondents held undergraduate degrees. 82 members of the sample placed their educational background at the undergraduate postgraduate level. Likewise, only 18 of the respondents said that they did not finish high school. The graph below shows the breakdown of the sample based on educational background: The following question dealt with the monthly income of the members of the sample. 31.67% of the sample placed their income in the 2000 to 4000 RMB bracket while 25.34% said that the income was in the range of 4000 to 6000 RMB. Only 19 respondents placed their income to be less than 2000 RMB a month. The following chart provides an illustration of such findings: With such demographic information provided, a profile of the sample can then be created. Based on the given demographic data, it can be assumed that majority of the sample is made up of professionals who hold jobs that provide sufficient or more than sufficient income. Also, these individuals are well-educated which would mean that they are up-to-date with the present trends and technologies. The monthly income is highly relevant for it is a determinant of the dispensable income that is used purchase goods and services that are offered through e-commerce websites. The age of the respondents is likewise vital for people between the ages of 18 and 39 have been identified as the most likely to make online purchases. (Pew Internet, 2008)            The demographic profile of the sample reflects the widely acknowledged belief that online shoppers are younger, better educated, and high income earners. As Pew Internet (2008) stated, â€Å"Some expected demographic factors account for some of the differences between online shoppers and other internet users. Online purchasers tend to be younger, better educated, and higher-income than those who have not bought a product over the internet.†Internet Usage and Online Shopping            The next segment of the survey aimed to gather data on the respondents’ internet usage and online shopping. The survey reveals that most of the respondents are seasoned users of the internet. As the graph below would show, most of the member of the sample have been using the internet for more than 3 years. Specifically, all of the respondents have used the internet with almost 78% of them acknowledging that they have used the internet for more than three years.  Not only are the respondents seasoned users of the internet, they are frequent users as well. Question 6 aimed to gather information as to how often the respondents used the internet. Out of 221 responses, 104 indicated that they use the internet daily while 75 answered that they accessed the worldwide web weekly. The responses show that the internet is an integral part of the everyday life of the respondents. For the majority of them, not a week goes by without them accessing the internet. Such data is graphically shown below: Respondents were likewise asked to state whether they have ever made an online purchase. 155 said yes while 66 said that they have yet to complete an online transaction. This means that 70 percent of the respondents have had experience using e-commerce websites. Thus, the information that they would share will be extremely valuable for their opinions would be based on actual experiences. Also, another question in the survey asked those respondents who have made an online purchase to indicate when their last online transaction was. 95 out of the 155 who said yes answered that their last online purchase was a month ago. This figure represents 61% of the total number of respondents who have made an online purchase. Provided below is the graph of the said data: What such data indicates is that online shopping has yet to become a habit for the respondents. Despite their frequent use of the internet, actual online purchases do not occur that often. This likewise shows that online shopping is not the primary purpose of internet usage.  Such finding is further strengthened by the information shown in the following graph. The answers to question 8 indicate that the respondents use the internet for reasons other than online shopping. 45% of the responses show that the participants only have occasional use of the internet to look for products or items to buy. These figures strengthen the earlier assertion made. They indicate that people have yet to fully utilize the internet for online shopping. The responses to question 8 are summarized below: It is evident that online shopping has yet to become a habit for the Chinese. Although they are habitual users of the internet, online shopping is not their primary purpose for accessing the worldwide web.            Having established the frequency of online shopping among the respondents, it is vital to determine how much they like online shopping. Question 10 in the survey specifically dealt with this matter. The responses gathered reveal that the respondents are not very akin to online shopping. 70 respondents rated that they only somewhat like online shopping and only 6 responded that they liked online shopping very much. Also, 34% of the respondents acknowledged that they were not so much fond of online shopping.  The graph below provides a detailed view of the responses: These responses reveal that there is hesitation on the part of the respondents about online shopping. Although they did not clearly reject the idea of purchasing products through e-commerce websites, the majority of them were uncertain as to how much they liked online shopping. There are reasons as to why such hesitation exists. It is critical that such reasons be explored as analyzing such information is vital to the achievement of the objectives of this research.            In question 11, respondents were asked to state the reasons why they purchase online. They were required to rate the given reasons on the basis of importance on a scale of 1 to 8 with options given a rating of 1 being the most important. Respondents were given 8 options and were given the freedom to pick and rate as many reasons as they want. To determine which reason was deemed as the most important reason for shopping online, the researcher devised a scoring scheme. A rating of 1 was given a score of 8. The score decreases as the level increases. Based on this scheme, if an option is given a rating of 8, it will gain a score of 1. The following table summarizes the point system: RATING GIVEN EQUIVALENT NUMBER OF POINTS 1 (Most Important) 8 2 7 3 6 4 5 5 4 6 3 7 2 8 (Least Important) 1 Based on the given point system, the score of each option were determined. This involved multiplying the number of responses for a given option at a given level/rating by the corresponding score/points. The sum of scores of a given option at the different levels is the total score of the said option. This process determined the option that was given the highest rating. The total score determines how important the respondents perceived the reason to be. Such method revealed that the most important reason why the respondents shopped online was the convenience of online shopping. Convenience received a score of 1087. This score was far greater than the rest since the next highest score was 793. This is the score accumulated by the reason that people shop online for items that are not available in local shops. The reason that had the lowest score is curiosity, which only garnered 57 points. The graph below summarizes the results of the said question: It is clear that the people shop online primarily because they find it convenient. Since online shopping does not require them to physically be at the shop, they can make purchases from anywhere and from any store online.            Another important factor that the questionnaire dealt with was the products that consumers commonly purchase from e-commerce websites. The 12th question in the survey aimed to gather such data. Respondents were asked to identify the products or services that they usually buy online. They were free to choose as many products or services as they want. The responses to the said question are summarized in the following graph: From the graph above, it can be seen that two types of products are commonly purchased online. Books and accessories were chosen 132 and 122 times respectively. It must be noted that these were the only two choices which had more than 100 respondents. The product that had the least number of responses was second hand goods, which was picked by only 28 respondents. This result is critical for auction sites which are the common sources of second hand goods. However, elaborating on such finding is beyond the coverage of this research.            Just as the respondents were asked to name the reasons why they choose to shop online, they were likewise asked to state the probable reasons why they would not purchase products or services offered through the internet. The results of question 13, which deals with this subject are vital for it will help explain the hesitation of respondents with online shopping as revealed in the discussion of the 10th question of the survey. (see page 8 of this section) Respondents were given 16 different reasons as to why they would not shop online. They were asked to rate their choice in terms of importance with options given a rating of 1 as the most important reason why they would choose not to complete online purchases. Furthermore, they were allowed to pick and rate as many options as they want. Since this question involves ratings, the results will be evaluated using the same methodology that this researcher utilized for question 11 of the survey. The same point system will be used. Although respondents had 13 different ratings to choose from, only ratings 1 to 8 received at least one response. Therefore, the researcher decided not to include ratings 9 to 13 in the evaluation and the same point system earlier described will utilized. The results of the evaluation, specifically the total points for each of the options given are graphed below: It is evident from the graph that the respondents were hesitant about shopping online because of the uncertainty with the quality of products that are sold in e-commerce websites. Such reason received a score of 1,243, the highest score among the given choices. The results also indicate that part of the reason why people refuse to shop online is their uncertainty over the security and privacy of the personal information they are required to give out when making online purchases. The following choices and their corresponding scores refer to security issues associated with online purchases: I worry about people may misuse my personal details 882 I do not trust online payment systems 862 I worry about someone may steal my credit card details online 714 I feel unsafe to provide personal information online 649 I do not trust e-commerce companies 574 These options obtained 5 out of the top 7 scores. Such finding is highly significant for it pinpoints a critical concern regarding online shopping, the security of personal and financial information. Furthermore, this result reveals the need to address such security concerns in order to better ensure the safety of online shoppers.            Another question that the respondents were asked to answer was whether they have had a bad experience with online shopping. This was succeeded by a question asking those who have had bad experiences to describe such. Of the 221 responses, 83% said that they have yet to have a bad experience with online shopping. The 17% or 38 respondents who declared that they have had a bad experience with online shopping were asked to describe their experience. The results of such question and the preceding question are shown below: Question 15: Please you briefly describe the experience           No response when I required the vender to replace the goods. 19 Network outage issues. 4 Vendor delayed refund when I return the goods. 15 The results indicate that online shoppers commonly have trouble after the sale has been made. Dealing with the vendors after the sale has been completed is the problem that often arises that thereby leads to the online shopper having a bad experience. The results of question 15 are indicative of this finding since 34 out of the 38 responses named vendor-related issues.            The same respondents who said that they have had a bad experience with online shopping were asked, in question 16, to indicate what such bad experience led them to do. It is important to note that not one of the 38 respondents said that the experience led them to stop shopping from the Chinese e-commerce websites completely. Instead, 21 out of the 38 respondents said that their bad experience made them more careful in dealing with and completing online transactions with Chinese e-commerce websites. Such finding indicates that bad experiences with vendors do not deter people from continuing to shop online. Instead, such bad experiences only heighten the shoppers’ awareness of the risks or possible issues that they need to look out for when shopping from such websites. Preferred Payment method = Security            Questions 17 and 18 focused on the payment method preferred and the reason why they preferred such method. The results of question 17 show that payment on delivery was the most preferred payment method by online shoppers as 117 of the 221 respondents chose it. Paypal was the second most preferred method with 56 responses. Respondents indicated that their choice of payment method is influenced primarily by the security that such payment method. 218 out of 221 respondents cited â€Å"Most Secured†as their reason for picking the payment method they prefer. Payment on delivery is indeed the most secure method since the shopper need not worry about paying for the item and not receiving it. It is the most guaranteed method since it does not put the shopper’s money at risk.       In the next question, the respondents were asked to determine how relevant certain factors are to their confidence in Chinese e-commerce websites. For each given factor, the respondents were asked to state how much they agree or disagree with the statement. The table below summarizes the responses to the said question: The table reveals several critical findings. First, it shows that most people are wary of the information contained in websites. In other words, the respondents are uncertain of the website’s contents. Product quality is also a major concern of online shoppers. This finding is consistent with the results of earlier questions in the survey.            The final two questions in the survey dealt with the respondent’s opinion on security and trust issues with regards to e-commerce websites and the relevant steps that they believe should be taken to address such critical issue. All of the respondents agree that the trust issues of Chinese e-commerce sites should be addressed and tackled. All 221 respondents stated that tackling such issues is important for the improvement and development of Chinese e-commerce websites.            The last question of the survey asked the respondents to give their recommendations as to how the trust issues of Chinese e-commerce websites should be addressed. They were likewise asked to determine the rank of their reasons from 1 to 10 with 1 being the most important and 10 being the least important reason. The table below presents the summary of results for the said question: From the data gathered, it is apparent that people see the need for e-commerce laws in China to be established. Furthermore, most of the recommendations that the respondents chose or cited are related to the laws that govern e-commerce in China. Thus, it is evident that they believe that protecting the welfare of online consumers is the duty of the Chinese government. Among the ten recommendations listed, the two that were picked as most important on more occasions are those that concern government duty in the process. Summary            The discussion has shown that Chinese internet users, although seasoned and experienced users of the internet, are not keen on making online purchases. Based on the data gathered, it is evident that their hesitation to purchase goods online is rooted in their concerns over the security of their information and on the possibility that the websites are fraudulent. Furthermore, the survey revealed that trust is a very critical issue to internet users. Finally, the survey showed that Chinese online shoppers believe that it is the China’s government’s duty to protect the welfare of online shoppers through the establishment of relevant laws and policies. References Pew Internet. Online Shopping: Internet users like the convenience but worry about the security of their financial information. Feb. 2008. Retrieved online 18 Aug 2008 from: http://www.pewinternet.org.
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