Consumer Confidence in Online Purchasing - Essay Example

Abstract
In order to increase their profitability and reach customers around the world, most of the modern firms have entered the e-commerce area trying to promote their various activities through the Internet. The above initiative can be characterized as strategically effective; most of the relevant studies (part of which is also presented in this paper) have led to the conclusion that consumers around the world prefer the Internet when having to buy a series of goods/ services. Of course, there are various issues that need to be taken into consideration when evaluating the trends of online buying (as identified through the empirical research made on the specific issue); even the indications regarding the consumer preferences around the world – regarding the goods/ services offered online – seem to present significant differentiation. In most cases, the motives that lead consumers to purchase online are not clearly identified; however, confidence has been proved to be a quite important criterion on which the decision of consumers to purchase online is based. The above assumption is proved not only through the studies published in the literature but also through the empirical research conducted for this paper.

Chapter 1
Introduction
The development of the Internet around the world has offered significant support to all commercial firms that have chosen to enter the WWW in order to promote their activities. The level of improvement of corporate activities because of the intervention of the Internet cannot be precisely estimated – different levels of success have been noticed across the various firms in the modern market in accordance with the preparations made by their managers towards the incorporation of the Internet as a valuable strategic tool as well as the perceptions of consumers towards the relevant efforts. In other words, it is possible that operating through the Internet is profitable for the majority of firms while for others it has proved a wrong strategic decision – because of the existence of certain factors that can influence the effectiveness of the Internet on the development of various business activities. Generally, it could be stated that Internet has played a significant role in the improvement of business performance as well as for the improvement of the relationship between the business and the consumer. This specific issue is highlighted by Archer et al. (2002, pp.73) who mention that ‘dramatically expanding reach (people/ location) and range (variety) of information, the World Wide Web can create benefits for both marketers and consumers. On the other hand, most of the studies published in the literature (as also presented in the next section) can lead to the assumption that consumers prefer the Internet when purchasing specific products/ services (e.g. books, tickets, and so on). Another issue is the fact that online purchasing has been found to be closely related to confidence. More specifically, it seems that confidence is the major criterion (among other criteria) that can lead consumers to a specific choice when having to purchase a specific good/ service online. The study of the relevant literature and the empirical research has led to the assumption that consumer confidence in online purchasing is too high. At the next level, it could be stated that confidence in online purchase has been increasing through the years; the reasons for the development of online purchasing the last years will be analytically presented in this study taking into account the potential differences that can be identified within the international market due to the influence of political, financial and social events as well as the differentiation of consumer preferences around the world.

Chapter 2
Literature Review
In order to respond to the constant development of technology internationally, firms around the world had to incorporate specific technological features in their activities; in addition to these technological features, the increase of a firm’s customer base cannot be achieved without also using a strategic tool that can offer a real-time presentation of the firm’s activities and products/ services around the world. The Internet has been proved to be the appropriate strategic tool in terms of the achievement of the above-described targets.