E-Commerce Grows Despite Security Fears

A quarter of US computer users have stopped buying online in an attempt to avoid identity theft, according to a study of 1,500 US consumers by Princeton Survey Research Associates for Consumer Reports WebWatch. At the same time, Jupiter Research and comScore both report significant online shopping growth.

The Consumer Reports WebWatch study, Leap of Faith: Using the Internet Despite the Dangers, found that 80% of consumers are at least somewhat concerned that someone could steal their identity from personal information on the Internet.

It states that 86% have made at least one change in their behaviour because of this fear: 30% have reduced overall Internet use, 53% have stopped giving out personal information, 25% have stopped buying things online, and 29% have cut back on how often they buy products on the Internet.

However, other research suggests these fears are not dampening the e-commerce market. A study from Jupiter Research, released yesterday, predicts that this year's US holiday online retail sales will reach $26 billion - a year-on-year increase of 18%.

Similarly, Nielsen//NetRatings is predicting a successful online shopping season (www.mrweb.com/drno/news4761.htm ), and a new Online Publishers Association (OPA) study by comScore Networks claims that consumer spending for online content in the US grew by 15.7% to $987 million in the first half of this year.

Consumer Reports WebWatch, which investigates trust and credibility in the online marketplace on behalf of the US Consumers Union, is online at www.consumerwebwatch.org . The other companies mentioned are at www,jupiterresearch.com , www.netratings.com and www.online-publishers.org.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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