Who Shops Online
CyberAtlas and others rank shopping as online surfers 10th favorite thing to do. According to Cyber Dialogue, $3.3 billion was spent on online shopping last year. Activmedia predicts 1998 revenue will reach $75 billion due to a surge in the worldwide online population. And researchers expect that figure to hit $1.2 trillion within four years.

Who is spending all this money? According to a new Cyber Dialogue study the typical online shopper is slightly more male, well educated, and earns a high salary. The same study finds people are most likely to locate an online store using a search engine, not by clicking on an ad banner. Furthermore, findings announced recently at the Jupiter Online Shopping Forum in New York City indicate 77% of buyers go online with a specific purchase in mind. And 79% of those visit several sites before making a purchase.

Cyber Dialogue Find/SVP suggest that the Internet is doing more to help offline shopping than online shopping. While USD3.3 billion was spent on online shopping last year, USD4.2 billion was spent by consumers after they had used the Internet to research the product.

Meanwhile a recent study on online consumer habits conducted by the US Commerce Department found that 71 percent of people go online to research information about products and services as opposed to using a local directory. In 1997 this figure was 47 percent.

Cyber Dialogue Find/SVP predict that the majority of users who opt to research online and buy offline will eventually start buying online. The study also found that people were more likely to come across a site by using a search engine as opposed clicking on an ad banner.

The reasons people gave for not buying online included fears of privacy violation, lack of confidence in online security, difficulty in navigating websites and a lack of bargains online. Some people said they preferred the physical human contact of a store to buying online.

Tips for Safe Shopping

Shop at sites using encypted order forms or SSL (secure socket layers) How will you know? Look in the lower left corner of your browser screen in Netscape to see if the key is whole or the padlock is closed. This indicates you are sending information via a secure socket layer, or encryption.

Shop at sites you trust. Either brand name sites or sites that have been recommended to you by satisfied customers. Just like in the real world!

Privacy concerns? Turn on your browsers' cookie alert and disable cookies. Also, check the box on the vendor's page for *no more information* (read *solicitation*) by that vendor or any other. The reputable ones will give you this option.

If you find it difficult to order from a particular website, my advice is *then don't*! There are prolly lots of other vendors out there who will make your shopping experience easier. Keep looking! BTW, these are the folks who may be well meaning but still don't get it. I'd be leery.

Bargains are there! Some of you may recall the blockbuster sale on Gateway desktops a few months back where you could order a system valued at more than $2100 for a measly $1500. And how about those special airline deals that you can only get by purchasing your ticket online? Remember, real bargains can be found any hour of the day or night at the shareware sites, too.

Human contact? Every merchant online is dying to talk to qualified customers! Look at the bottom of the page for the email address and click on it! A human will get back to you. But, you may have to pay more for the product. Humans are more expensive than 'bots. Remember those bargains you were looking for? Companies using automated robot programs to verify your purchase and initiate the shipping of your goodies can usually sell for less.