Internet Survey Executive Summary

See also: Internet survey

For the Internet survey.

This purpose of this study was to examine the attitudes of consumers towards purchasing goods and services over the Internet. We were specifically interested in determining if 1) consumers would be more likely to buy cognitive rather than affective products, 2) consumers who had previously ordered goods through mail order are more likely to buy on the net, 3) convenience is the primary reason people prefer to order through the net, and 4) Women would be more likely to purchase over the net than men.

For the purposes of this study, we installed a Web page on the SOM server and placed pointers to it from a number of locations. We also hand fed the survey to a number of SOM students in the computer center. We received about 17 responses from each.

The results we received should be no means be regarded as representative of the user population of the Net. However, the responses do form an interesting springboard for further studies.

The results did bear out two of our hypothoses: Numbers 1 and 3: consumers are more likely to buy cognitive rather than affective articles, and convenience is a very important reason for buying over the net. The second hypothosis, that purchase behavior via mail order would be positively correlated with purchase attitudes via the Net, was not borne out. The fourth hypothesis, that women are more likely to shop over the net than men, was contra-indicated in all except one instance.