EUROPEAN BUSINESS MANAGEMENT SCHOOL

EBMS Working Paper EBMS/2000/4 (ISSN: 1470-2398)

Attitudes toward On-line Purchase Behavior: Comparing Academics, Students and Others

Dr Panicos Georgiades, Dr Johann duPreez, Dr Bill Dowsland and Dr Antonis Simintiras

European Business Management School Singleton Park Swansea SA2 8PP UK Tel: 01792 295601 (International: +44 1792 295601) Fax: 01792 295626 (International: +44 1792 295626) e-mail: g.w.witchell@swansea.ac.uk

Attitudes toward On-line Purchase Behavior: Comparing Academics, Students and Others
by Dr Panicos Georgiades 1, Dr Johann duPreez2, Dr Bill Dowsland 3 and Dr Antonis Simintiras4

Abstract The growth of online shopping and companies desire to capture a large share of the existing and future Internet market, necessitate an understanding, amongst others, of the impact of users demographic characteristics on attitudes towards purchasing over the Internet. Such knowledge will assist managers to better understand and segment their markets and design appropriate marketing communication strategies. In this study, a sample of 316 Internet users was used to analyze attitudes toward buying online. The findings indicated that gender and occupation had an influence only on attitudes concerning perceptions of the competitiveness of the Internet and its impersonal nature. The paper provides an analysis of the data, a discussion of the findings and their managerial implications and offers directions for future research. INTRODUCTION Since 1993, when the Internet was made available for commercial use, its growth has outpaced every other technical communication advance in human history. It is now widely recognized that no communications medium, or electronic technology, has ever grown as quickly as the Internet. Although prior to the Internet, technological advances have influenced commercial transactions, the revolution that is currently taking place is transforming the entire market place (Shaw et. al., 1997). Statistics vary as to the total number of online users. For example, NUA Ltd. updates its figures monthly. The total online population worldwide was estimated to be around 150 million people in March 1999. One quarter of Western Europeans now have access to the Internet and five percent of those have made online purchases. (NUA.Ltd, 2000). In the UK alone, 12.5 million or 27% of the population have used the Internet in September 1999, and of those users, 27% have purchased goods online whereas 49% have used the Web to compare the price of goods and services (CommerceNet, 1999). Consumers are now entering a new era in which the majority of value-adding activities in the economy will move into cyberspace by means of globally connected electronic
1 2

Dr Panicos Georgiades is Managing Director of Panomedia company. Dr Johann duPreez is Lecturer in Statistics at the University of Wales Swansea 3 Dr Bill Dowsland is Senior Lecturer in Business and IT at the University of Wales Swansea. 4 Address for correspondence: Professor Antonis C Simintiras, Chair of Marketing, European Business Management School, University of Wales Swansea, Singleton Park Swansea, SA2 8PP, UK. E-mail: a.simintiras@swansea.ac.uk, tel:+441792295740, fax: +001792 295626.

networks. Despite an increasing number of online users and products that are being offered on the Web, there is relatively little work that focuses on examining the influence of gender and occupations on the attitudes of Internet users toward on-line shopping. Similar to any other innovation, companies that decide to use the Internet for marketing their offerings will need to meet or exceed the expectations of their customers if they are to succeed. To this end, there are some important problems concerning Internets perceived security, competitiveness, impersonality and convenience that may hamper its future success of the companies marketing their products on-line. It is the objective of this study to investigate the influence of gender and some occupational groups on attitudes of Internet users toward buying on-line. The purpose is to understand the current attitudes of on-line shoppers that will allow marketing managers to segment and target the Internet market more effectively. This paper is structured as follows. First, a brief review that features a discussion of the role and importance of the Internet in todays world is provided. Second, the findings of the literature concerning several key variables, which have been found to influence the attitudes of users when they buy or consider buying over the Internet, along with the research question of this study are presented. Third, the research design and methodology used and the analysis of the data are discussed. Finally, a discussion of the findings and their managerial implications is offered and directions for future research are provided. BACKGROUND It is quite common, nowadays, to read on the everyday press at least one article with very positive statements concerning the Internet. For instance, The Sunday Times recently, in an article entitled Welcome to a whole new life reported that the digital revolution is the most momentous occurrence anyone alive today is likely to experience (The Sunday Times 10/10/99). In addition, the same newspaper with its Mastering the Net series paves the way for a regular new section in its Sunday paper. Academics have also written widely about the Internet and ways in which it has and will affect consumers (see Bruner, 1997; Hoffman et. al., 1995; Settles, 1995). For example, Sheth and Sisodia (1997) have stated that consumers will become highly information technology literate and that their time poverty and the abundance of information technology will lead to a greatly increased level of automated transactions with marketers. In the network economy, producing and consuming fuse into a single verb: prosuming. The term that has been coined by Alvin Toffler in 1970, is based on the premise of mass customization. Technology allows customers to have a hand in the creation of the product that will make them satisfied. Customers can teach companies how to satisfy them and the firm can have a customer with much fuller relationship than ever before (Kelly, 1998). Creating a product for a niche of one is only a small part of the transformation of the customer relationship. For example, Bespoke CDs will be sold through Top Shop Music site Off the Wall and consumers will be able to create their own CD by choosing from up to 80 dance music tracks, from Universal Musics database, after listening to 30second samples. The 10-track CDs will also have personalized titles (Revolution, 1999). Furthermore, network technologies such as data mining, smart cards and

recommendations engines are escalating the levels of relationships available to customers (Kelly 1998). Consumers seem to be very willing to embark on using the Internet for their shopping and the trend is quite revealing. For example, Jupiter Communications predicted online sales during the months of November and December 1999 to double to $6 billion, up from $3.1 billion spent during the same period in 1998. On the contrary, sales off-line are expected to increase about 6% during the 1999 holiday season to reach $184 billion according to National Retail Federation (James, 1999). James has also pointed out that online transactions are expected to quadruple to 58,000 a day from 15,000 a day during non-holiday months. However, not all Internet users are individual consumers; some represent businesses and a percentage as high as 70% of all online transactions dollars are generated in the business-to-business market (Strauss and Frost 1999). The prolific growth of consumer access to the Internet could not have possibly left companies apathetic. In addition to creating web sites and marketing their products and/or services over the Internet, companies establish organizational structures to accommodate those responsible with the task for marketing offerings over the Internet. Indicative of this trend is the ads for E-commerce directors appearing regularly on newspapers. For example, in The Sunday Times (10/10/99) appointments section, there were four ads for E-commerce directors in the first two pages alone; this represented 25% of all ads listed in the first two pages. The rationale for these trends is provided in the article by Krauss (1999) which touches upon the issue of market capitalization. He pointed out that American Onlines (AOL) market capitalization is $100,8 billion that compares nicely to $49,2 billion for General Motors Corporation. Similarly, Yahoo at $33,3 billion, Amazon.com at $21,5 billion, eBay at $18,1 billion and so on, proves that the hot Internet start-ups have done particularly well in a rather short period of time. However, despite that they all once looked invincible, they now are facing the same competitive challenges that have plagued companies since commerce was invented. The urgency with which companies go on-line and increase their advertising spending is unprecedented. The everyday press plays a significant role when it urges companies with statements such as: ..only 88 shopping days til Christmas, and marketers should spend some of those holiday advertising dollars on the Net to reach the rapidly growing market of online shoppers in the United States and elsewhere (Schmidt, 1999). However, according to Grande (2000), true web companies see themselves not as stand-alone entities but as part of a wider network of alliances and opportunistic deals. From shared knowledge comes trust and, in this context, a business without a web site is the equivalent of an ex-directory company. He also argues that creating a web site is by itself only as productive as adding a telephone line. It will not transform a poor business; it will merely expose its shortcomings. Companies, therefore, are facing big challenges (see Peterson, et al, 1997), and if they are to be successful over the Internet they need to know, amongst other things, the influence of demographic variables on the attitudes of their consumers toward buying or consider buying on-line. In the next part, a brief literature review pertaining to the factors affecting buying and intentions to buy on-line is provided.

SELECTION OF FACTORS As with any form of buying, the Internet provides the consumer with a variety of advantages and disadvantages. Perceptions of various aspects of the Internet vary between individuals and this variation, when it is linked to demographic characteristics of consumers may have important implications for marketing managers. This section will provide a brief review of factors influencing purchase behavior and intention to buy over the Internet, examine some demographic factors that have been found to have an impact on consumers attitudes and put forward the research question to be addressed in this study. The Internet is convenient; simple to use; hassle free. According to Schwartz (1997), just as automatic teller machines transformed the customer experience in the banking industry, the web is changing the rules in other industries. Customers are comfortable doing things themselves because the Internet provides them with control and convenience. As life gets ever more complex in so many dimensions, consumers are looking for simplicity (Sheth and Sisodia, 1997) and most companies nowadays, provide the simplicity of navigation when consumers are doing their shopping from their desk or lap-top. In addition, consumers can subscribe to software from a company and receive regular upgrades to their hard drives rather than having to go buy a box in a store (Schwartz 1997) which makes the entire shopping experience over the Internet as hasslefree as it could be. The Internet offers competitive prices. Lawrence et al, (1998), have stated that one of the great advantages of the web is that products can be sold much cheaper because the large infrastructure of a physical shop front is not necessary. They pointed out that consumers have been attracted to cyber sites in the USA that sell CDs and books for far less than the retail price in their country even after paying postage and shipping costs. A study conducted by Cheskin research and Studio Archetype/Sapient in 1999 found that, amongst others, good (competitive) prices was one of the main reasons for buying on-line (Cheskin Research, 1999). The technology that the Internet is based is not reliable; users are not confident of the security of their financial and personal details. Forecasts reported in Peterson et al. (1997), indicate that the technology supporting the Internet will collapse or demise due to switching and transmission capabilities becoming congested and overwhelmed because of an unmanageable number of users. In addition, Bush et al (1998) found that the principal problems that consumers are facing when buying on the Internet are fears concerning security and privacy. For example, according to Lawrence et al (1998), there is concern by consumers sending their credit card details over the Internet. They fear that their transaction information will be intercepted and used by someone else. Therefore, issues such as using reliable technology and securing financial and personal details must be addressed in order to minimize the fear of privacy invasion and abuse of customer information stopping, in that way, people from considering the Internet as a shopping medium (Jervenpaa and Grazioli, 1999).

Lack of personal contact and face anonymity. The foundation of every customer-driven business is the personal contact and the wider social welfare resulting from conventional shopping. Burke (1997), reported that some participants in his study felt that electronic shopping would isolate consumers from the real world, removing the sensory stimulation of the physical store, the contact with other shoppers and the existence of walking the aisles. Lack of personal contact and face anonymity are seen as disadvantages to the extent that some web sites have started to include photos and video clips of store owners and staff to overcome the perception that electronic storefronts are too impersonal (Jarvenpaa and Grazioli, 1999; see also Jcobson, 1999). It is easy to place an order over the Internet; it offers 24 hours access. A study conducted by Cheskin Research and Studio Archetype/Sapient in 1999, found, amongst other things, that ease of use to be one of the main reasons for buying on-line. In another study of 220 consumers it was reported that shoppers were found to appreciate the ability to visit the virtual store at any hour (Cheskin Research, 1999). Consequently, the Internet signifies that the traditional limitations of time no longer apply when purchasing on-line. The above factors have been frequently and consistently cited in the literature as influencing buying behavior over the Internet. However, it should be mentioned at this stage that neither the references provided in the discussion of each factor, nor the list of factors itself, is inclusive. Many more factors have been suggested to influence on-line purchase behavior, but these have not been as frequently or consistently cited as the above. In the following paragraphs, a discussion of the literature pertaining to the influence of demographic characteristics of Internet users on attitudes toward their purchase behavior on-line is provided. According to Costa (1994), within western societies there is the generally held belief that compared with females, males are more involved with computer technology and feel more confident with it. Thus, it could be argued, that gender is related to buying behavior as womens relative lack of confidence in using computer technology probably limit the use of internet for their shopping activity. However, in a recent article, it was argued that women are more likely to shop over the Internet due to the fact that they are heavier credit card users and frequent catalogue purchasers. The same source also revealed that on-line shopping as an option ranked fairly low among women as an enticement to go on-line. Once on the Internet, however, an as high as 75% shop, and 60% actually buy (Brandweek, 1997). Given that gender is a commonly used variable for market segmentation, this study will attempt to establish the influence of gender on the range of attitudes that identified above. Occupation has long been used as a segmentation variable since individuals with similar occupations tend to share common characteristics and have common goals. During the early years of the Internet, the typical users were males, college educated and realizing a high income. (Strauss and Frost, 1999). A plethora of different occupational classifications of Internet users have been suggested in the literature and even when occupation is not used as a factor for classification, occupational groups are still emerging. For instance, Clemente (1998) initially classified Internet users as home and

work users and subsequently formed four segments based on payment for access and primary reason for using the Internet. One of the resulting segments was academics (an occupational group) that included students as well. (Strauss and Frost, 1999). Based upon such findings, and given the number of academics and students, who responded in this study, it was decided to use, academics and students as separate groups and group all other respondents in a third group. The primary reason for this was that respondents fell clearly into one of the three categories and the number of respondents in each group appeared to be more equally distributed than any other combination of occupations. The resulting three occupational groups were academics, students and others. Based on the above analysis, the following research question will be examined: There is a difference in attitudes toward buying online between males and females in different occupational groupings who have bought or considered buying on-line. METHOD To determine gender and occupational grouping influences on the attitudes toward online purchase behavior, the factors identified in the literature were used to construct a questionnaire. The questionnaire was pre-tested with 34 consumers, and several minor changes in the wording of ten questions were made. The questionnaire was subsequently placed on a web site and its electronic format was also pre-tested with nine consumers. In total, three changes in the electronic format were made. First, the scales wording was repeated (i.e., strongly agree to strongly disagree) after every eighth statement in order to assist consumers reference to the wording of the scale without necessarily having to scroll back to the beginning of the question. Second, the questionnaire was programmed in such a way that those who have never bought or considered buying to be automatically taken to the appropriate section. Finally, the name and address of contact person was provided at the end of the questionnaire to be contacted for those who were interested in receiving the results of the study. In total, forty-two Internet service providers were contacted and asked to link our web site to their main page in return for the studys findings. However, only five providers cooperated, a response rate of 11.8%. The web site was also circulated in ELMAR, a distribution list of marketing academics worldwide and in a similar distribution list run by the Association of Statisticians. The questionnaire remained on the web site for four months. The final sample of those who had bought or considered buying on-line comprised 316 respondents. Table 1.1 below provides a summary of respondents based on gender and occupational groupings. Have bought or consider Male others (n=114) buying/Males (n=206) Male students (n=34) Have bought or consider Male academics (n=58) buying (n=316) Have bought or consider Female others (n=55) buying/Females (n=110) Female students (n=20) Female academics (n=35)

The occupational group labeled others excludes students and academics but, otherwise, it is fairly representative of a stratum of a western countrys population. The sample is not representative in terms of nationality of respondents. Although individuals from sixteen different nationalities completed the questionnaire and the corresponding countries ranged from the UK to Peru and USA to India, the large majority of respondents were North Americans and Europeans. ANALYSIS AND RESULTS In this study a two stage analytical approach was used. First, the ten items measuring purchase behavior and intention to buy online drawn from the relevant literature were subjected to a factor analysis. The results suggested a four-factor solution with items loading highly on their hypothesized and theoretically meaningful factors and had relatively small cross-loadings (see Table 1). Together these four factors explained 72% of the total variance and are as follows: 1. Security concerns (three items, = .83); 2. Perceived competitiveness (three items = .70); 3. Impersonality issues (two items = .71); and 4. Convenience (two items = .67). Clearly one dimension found to have somewhat less than the desirable level of reliability ( .70), indicating that more work for developing the scale is needed. However, these dimensions correspond to meaningful and interpretable factors and showed significant reliable variance given the number of items per dimension.
Table 1: Questionnaire Items Used for Assessing Online Purchase Behavior and results of Principal component and reliability analysis. Factor Coefficient Factor name Questionnaire items a Loading Alpha I am not confident giving out personal details .89 .83 Security concerns I am not confident giving out financial details .87 Technology is not reliable .72 It is simple and hassle free in its use .77 .70 Perceived It is easy to place an order .77 competitiveness It offers competitive prices .75 Dislike the face anonymity .86 .71 Impersonality Dislike the lack of personal contact .82 issues It offers 24 hours access .85 .67 Convenience I like the convenience of the Internet .83 a A five-point Likert scale was used for each item ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree with neither agree nor disagree as a mid point.

The four factors were used to test the research question. More specifically, gender and occupational groupings served as categorical independent variables with the four factors being used as dependent variables. Given that all cells in the design contained responses,

and that the factors resulted from the factor analysis were independent, it was decided to use ANOVA to test the research question. The results of the analysis of variance appear on Table 2. For all analysis a significance level of .010 was assumed. The findings revealed that there were no significant main effects either for gender (F= .529; p = .468) or for the three occupational groups (F=.763; p=.480). Furthermore, no interaction effects were found between gender and occupational groups for security concerns (F = .12; p = .886) With regards to the perceived competitiveness of the Internet as a medium for shopping, the results revealed a main effect for both gender (F=4.10; p=.044) and occupation (F=2.41; p=.092), but as with security concerns no interaction effect was found between gender and occupation for perceived competitiveness (F = 1.98; p = .141). Table 2. Results of Analysis of Variance Source DF Security concerns Gender Occupational groupings GxOG Perceived competitiveness Gender(G) Occupational groupings (OG) GxOG Impersonality concerns Gender(G) Occupational groupings (OG) GxOG Convenience Gender(G) Occupational groupings (OG) GxOG 1 2 2 1 2 2 1 2 2 1 2 2

Sum of squares .52 1.47 .24 3.94 4.63 3.80 3.89 7.58 1.51 .04 5.84 .60

Mean Square .53 .73 .12 3.9 2.3 1.9 3.9 3.8 .75 .04 2.9 .30

F Value .53 .74 .12 4.10 2.41 1.98 4.02 3.92 .78 .04 2.86 .30

p .468 .480 .886 .044 .092 .141 .046 .021 .461 .851 .059 .745

Statistically significant results for main effects were found for both gender (F=4.02; p=.046) and occupational groups (F=3.92; p=.021) for impersonality concerns, but no interaction effect (F = .78; p = .461) were present. Finally, for convenience, there was no main effect for gender (F = .04; p = .851) but the results indicated a main effect for occupational groups (F=2.86; p;.059). As it has been the case with all dimensions above, no interaction effects were found between the two factors for attitudes toward convenience (F = .30; p = .745). Age, was also brought into analysis but had no interaction with gender or occupation and therefore had no obvious confounding effect. The above results indicate that gender and occupation differences were detected for some of the factors. Closer examination of the significant results using post hoc tests (e.g., Tukey HSD and LSD), revealed that for males the differences for both perceived competitiveness and

impersonality concerns were found to be between academics and students, whereas for females the differences were found to be between academics and others. No differences Table 3. Results of Post-hoc tests for within gender category group differences Impersonality Competitiveness Male Academics-Students Academics-Students Female Academics-Others Academics-Others were found between occupational groups in the gender categories for security and convenience. The next section provides a discussion of the above findings. DISCUSSION The objective of this study was to examine the influence of gender and some occupational groups on attitudes toward buying or consider buying over the Internet. The main findings were that no differences were found between males and females in all three occupational groupings with regards to security and convenience. In particular respondents attitudes toward security were found to be in agreement in that they did not feel confident with the provision of information concerning their personal and financial details and that technology backing the Internet is reliable. This suggests that companies can standardize their communications strategies aiming at alleviating the fears of Internet users with regards to security concerns. The findings, however, indicated that all consumers liked the convenience of the Internet, therefore, companies can capitalize on the strong attitudes that on-line users hold about its convenient nature. As far as the perceived competitiveness of the Internet is concerned, male academics appeared to be have stronger attitudes than that of male students. The mean for male academics was higher for competitiveness (i.e., it is simple and hassle-free, it easy to place an order and it offers competitive prices). This indicates that male academics perceived the competitiveness of the Internet more favorably than students. This might be explained by the fact that male academics are a) less price sensitive than students; b) are well equipped with the means for completing an on-line transaction (credit cards, permanent addresses etc.) and c) have been using the Internet longer and during work hours so the level of familiarity with the new medium is greater for them than for the students. Similarly, the attitudes of females toward the perceived competitiveness of the Internet found to be different among female academics and female others. The mean for female academics was higher than that of female others indicating that female academics perceived the competitiveness of the Internet more favorably than the female others. Some possible explanations are that female academics have more familiarity with the Internet due primarily to a) frequent use of the medium for work purposes, b) the vast majority of products available on the Internet come closer to their work related needs (software, books etc) that makes purchase on-line more likely, and c) have more frequent access to the Internet (usually from work and home).

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For impersonality concerns again there were some differences in attitudes. Academic males had a higher mean than that of students showing that male academics were the least concerned with the face anonymity and the lack of personal contact. The reasons for it could be that male academics might have a) a wider experience in impersonal transactions than students (i.e., catalogue shopping), b) less free time to do the sopping in traditional stores, and c) a need for products that are repeat purchases that could be bought over the Internet without requiring any assistance from the staff of a store. Female academics attitudes were also found to differ from that of female others. The mean for female academics found to be higher than that of female others. Possible explanations for these differences may be that female academics a) are in employment and, as a result, might have less free time to do all their shopping in traditional stores and that the range of products that they buy may not require any personal assistance (i.e., books, CDs etc). The managerial implications of this study can be assessed at two levels. First at the level of dimensions that on-line consumers use to evaluate the new medium for buying and second at the level of using such findings to design communications strategies able to account for the differences between gender and the investigated in this study occupational groups. Depending on the type of company and its products, marketing managers can use the dimensions identified in this study to investigate the attitudes of their online target market. For example, assessing whether their on-line offerings require personal selling assistance, managers can formulate strategies to accommodate such concerns when venturing on marketing their products over the Internet. Similarly, managers need to be particularly sensitive to consumers perceived competitiveness of their offerings over the Internet since perceived non-competitiveness of their offerings may damage the companys name and image and add to the beliefs of consumers that substitution of traditional shopping with shopping on-line is not justifiable. The study suffers from many limitations. The inability to draw a random sample of Internet users is a well-known problem facing researchers using online methodologies. In addition, self-selection bias is very likely to have occurred and it is difficult to measure. Another issue of concern is respondent authenticity. For instance surveys have found that anywhere from 20% to 50% of web users have posed as the opposite sex on the Internet and children posed as adults on-line (Straus and Frost, 1999). Given the above limitations, the results of this study should be treated with extreme caution and no attempt should be made to generalize the findings. More research needs to be done in the area of attitudes towards buying on-line (i.e., further scale development and validation) and additional socio-demographics should be included in the analysis if the findings are to have wider applicability. In addition, future studies investigating attitudes toward online purchase behavior should be industry and product category specific in order to assess attitudinal differences of consumers at the level of products/services and/or industry sectors. REFERENCES Brandweek, (1997), Vol. 38:7 and 38:19, February, May.

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Bruner, G.C., II. (1997), Cyberspace: The Marketing frontier, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 61, Is. 1, pp. 112-113. Burk, R.R., (1996), Virtual Shopping: Breakthrough in Marketing Research, Harvard Business Review, 17 (March April), pp. 120-131. Bush, A., Bush, V. and Harris, S., (1998), Advertiser Perceptions of the Internet as a Marketing Communications Tool, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 38, Is. 2, pp. 17-27. Cheskin Research and Studio Archetype/Sapient, (1999), eCommerce Trust Study, A joint Research project by Cheskin Research and Studion Archetype/Sapient, January. Internet: http://www.studioarchetype.com/cheskin Clement, P., (1998), The State of the Net: The New Frontier, New York: McGraw-Hill. Costa, J. A., (1994), Gender Issues in Consumer Behavior, Sage, p.144. Commerce Net, (1999), Ecommerce survey shows 27% of British Adults Now Use the Internet on a Regular Basis, CommerceNet Consortium, October 27, Internet:
http://www.commercenet.org.uk

Grande, C., (2000), The E-commerce Hare Wins the Race Financial Times, Monday February 7, p. 3. Hoffman, D.L., Novak, T.P. and Chatterjee, P., (1995), Commercial Scenarios for the Web: Opportunities and Challenges, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communications, Vol. 1, No. 3. Internet: http://www.ascusc.org/jcmc/vol1/issue3/ James, D., (1999), Merr-E Christmas: Ready or not Big Online Holoday Bonanza Seen Marketing News, November 8,p. 16. Jarvenpaa, S.L. and Grazioli, S., (1999), Surfing Among the Sharks: How to gain Trust in the Cyberspace, Financial Times Supplement, 15 March. Kelly, K., (1998), New Rules for the New Economy: 10 Ways the Network Economy is Changing Everything, Penguin Putnam Inc. Krauss, M., (1999), Merely Grinding Out Market-Share Gains does not Cut it for Marketers with a Future, Marketing News, October 25, pp. 10. Lawrence, E., Corbitt, B., Tidwell, A., Fisher, J. and Lawrence, J.R., (1998), Internet Commerce: Digital Models for Busienss, Wiley. NUA Internet Surveys (2000), IDC Research: One Quarter of Europeans Now Online). Internet: http://www.nua.net/surveys. Peterson A.R (1997), Electronic Marketing: Visions, Definitions, and Implications in R.A. Peterson (Ed.), Electronic Marketing and the Consumer, Sage Publications. Peterson, R.A., Balasubramanian, S. and Bronnenberg, B.J., (1997), Exploring the Implications of the Internet for Consumer Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 25, No. 4, pp. 329-346. Revolution, (1999), Top Shop to Offer Personal CDs, 24 November, p. 3. Schmidt, V. K., (1999), More ads for online Shoppers-Especially outside U.S., Marketing News, 27 September, p. 3. Settles, C., (1995), Cybermarketing: Essentials for Success, Emeryville, CA: Ziff-Davis Press. Shaw, M., Gardner, D. and Thomas, H., (1997), Research Opportunities in Electronic Commerce, Decision Support Systems, Vol. 21, pp. 27-33. Sheth, J.N. and Sisodia, R.S., (1997), Consumer Behavior in the Future in Peterson R.A. (ed), Electronic Marketing and the Consumer, Sage Publications.

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Straus, J. and Frost, R., (1999), Marketing on the Internet: Principles of Online Marketing, Prentice-Hall Inc. Schwartz, E. I., (1997), Webonomics: Nine Essential Principles for Growing your business on the World Wide Web, Broadway books. The Sunday Times, (1999), Mastering the Net: 10 Ways the Internet is Changing your Life, Culture, Section 9, October 10, pp. 49-63.

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