Authors:
Khalid Al-Diri
;
Dave Hobbs
and
Rami Qahwaji
Affiliation:
Informatics school, Bradford University, United Kingdom
Keyword(s):
E-Commerce, E-Vendor, Internet, Online Shopping, Saudi Arabia.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Computer-Supported Education
;
e-Learning
;
e-Learning, e-Commerce and e-Society Applications
;
Multimedia
;
Multimedia Systems and Applications
;
Telecommunications
Abstract:
Electronic commerce is a worldwide phenomenon. Its diffusion has apparently taken different paths in different nations. This is partially because of the significant differing characteristics of national infrastructural and the political and socio-economic environments for e-commerce adoption. The growing use of the Internet in Saudi Arabia provides a developing prospect for e-shopping. Despite the high potential of online shopping in Saudi Arabia, there is still a lack of understanding concerning the subject matter and its potential impact on consumer. This paper is part of larger study, and aims to establish a preliminary assessment, evaluation and understanding of the characteristics of online shopping in Saudi Arabia, based on a sample of 144 Internet users, it explores their information-seeking patterns as well as their motivations and concerns for online shopping. Consumers in Saudi Arabia still lack of trust in the vendors’ websites when utilizing the Internet as a shopping cha
nnel. They are mainly concerned about issues related to security and privacy when dealing with online vendors, and also about issues regarding the Saudi Internet
network, English language as a dominant Internet language. While the most motivators for Saudis to utilize the online shopping were convenience, product/service not available offline, and the price respectively. We present and discuss our findings, and identify changes that will be required for broader acceptance and diffusion of online shopping in Saudi Arabia.
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