Abstract

This exploratory study examined attitudinal differences among college students on Internet shopping. College students were classified as non-web shoppers, web-store visitors, Internet browsers, and Internet buyers based on their previous Internet shopping experience. The model identified the theoretical factors, grouped into the three general categories of consumer, marketing, and technology that influence the online shopping of these four groups. Significant demographic background differences in terms of marital status, number of credit cards held, hours of Internet use, and primary use of the Internet were found among the four consumer groups. The attitudes and intentions of these four consumer groups towards online shopping were analyzed by using ANOVA. For four groups of consumers (non-web shopper, web-store visitor, Internet browser, and Internet buyer) on various variables including demographic background, technology and Internet experiences, and consumer, marketing, and technology factors were examined by using regression analysis to predict consumers’ future intention to purchase on the Internet. The key finding of the study was that the consumer factor, comprised of privacy, security and trust, time saving, ease of use, convenience, enjoyment provided by shopping, company reputation and tactility, was most significant for who intended to purchase online and who did buy online. The paper describes the study and concludes by highlighting contributions to e-tailers and business owners and the theoretical framework in the study will be utilized by consumer educators.