Description
The purpose of this paper is to review and study the factors affecting the consumer's attitudes directly for online shopping in Saudi Arabia. The survey was conducted and 210 questionnaires collected from students and staff of different universities and general public in Saud Arabia.
International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 4, Issue 11, November 2014 1
ISSN 2250-3153
www.ijsrp.org
Factors affecting the consumer’s attitudes on online
shopping in Saudi Arabia
Nahla Khalil
College of Computers and Information Technology, Taif University, Saudi Arabia
Abstract- The invention of the internet has created a new pattern
of the traditional way people shop. Today, online shopping is
ideal for many of people with disabilities, people with children,
people with hectic schedules, and others who just may not have
the time or the energy to spend all day walking around the mall.
The purpose of this paper is to review and study the factors
affecting the consumer’s attitudes directly for online shopping in
Saudi Arabia.
The survey was conducted and 210 questionnaires collected
from students and staff of different universities and general
public in Saud Arabia.
The collected data have been analyzed by means of
frequency distribution, average and chart analysis. The results of
the survey has shown that most of people already shopping
online and prefer to make their purchases online, also there are
factors that make the buyer hesitant to come online purchasing,
Where security and privacy top concern of the purchaser. Among
the factors influencing the purchase online are the price, the trust,
the convenience and the recommendations
The growth of internet technology in Saudi Arabia has
enormous potential as it reduces the costs of product and service
delivery and extends geographical boundaries in bringing buyers
and sellers together.
Factors such as price, trust in quality and brand or the
availability of products images may all serve, to different degree,
as important elements in customer decision making when
purchasing products online.
The study achieved that the purchase online is easy,
comfortable and better than conventional shopping due to various
factors.
I. INTRODUCTION
audi Arabia has been linked to the Internet in 1993, but
public access was not widely available until January 1999.
Internet connectivity was launched in many Universities and
some government agencies in February 1999 [5] and made
available to the public through commercial ISPs.
Using internet has facilitated access a large range of
collecting information, purchasing goods and services that were
almost hard to obtain. With few mouse clicks, information about
most topics can be found in seconds and keeping in touch with
distant friends has never easier. Among the many information
resources and services the internet provides is online shopping.
Online shopping is the process of buying goods and services
from merchants who sell on the Internet, which has grown
dramatically in the last decade [1]. This incredible growth can be
seen in the online population [2]. Whereas, the United States,
followed by Europe, represents the largest share with about 79%
of the global E-Commerce revenue, over 875 million consumers
have shopped online [7]. The number of online shoppers has also
increased up to 40% in the last two years. Among Internet users
with Internet access shopping, the highest percentage for online
shopping is found in South Korea (99%), UK (97%), Germany
(97%), Japan (97%), and US (94%). African and Middle Eastern
regions, on the other hand, have the smallest share with about 3%
of the global E-Commerce revenue [8].
Furthermore, more recent statistics predicts [9] that online
retail revenue will grow from $191.7 billion in 2011 to $248.7
billion in 2014, representing an 8 percent compound annual
growth rate.
There is no doubt that in the 21st century Saudi Arabia has
entered a new phase of globalization. The growth of internet
usage in Saudi Arabia changes the behaviour of customers doing
business and it has become one of the most significant
communication channels. Furthermore, [3] conducted a recent
study to identify the factors that encourage the adoption of online
banking by customers in Saudi Arabia.
But, the internet has not yet been fully exploited in the
Saudi market, as it has been in the European, American and
Asian countries. Recently, the internet has seen a great
improvement in the number of Saudi internet users. That’s where
merchants have sought to sell their products to people who surf
the Internet. Shoppers can visit web stores from the comfort of
their homes and shop as they sit in front of the computer and buy
a variety of items from online stores. In fact, people can purchase
just about anything from companies that provide their products
online. Books, clothing, household appliances, toys, hardware,
software, and health insurance are just some of the hundreds of
products consumers can buy from an online store. Many people
prefer using shopping online because of the convenience.
In Saudi Arabia began using purchase online from other
countries, where the trade process is completed and the money
was transferred through a credit card to other country’s company.
They found that individual attitudes toward e-shopping
significantly and positively affect user acceptance. Also various
motives of buyer online while taking into account the emotional
behaviour with benefits related to the purchase of goods and
services online.
Moreover, companies continue to establish a presence on
the Internet, they find that some consumers are still hesitant to
shift in the same direction.
Despite the convenience of online shopping, not everyone
chooses to purchase items and services online. Some people like
the idea of physically going to a store and experiencing the
shopping process. They like to touch the merchandise, try on
clothing, and be around other people. Online shopping doesn't
S
International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 4, Issue 11, November 2014 2
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permit shoppers to touch products or have any social interaction.
It also doesn't allow them to take the merchandise home the same
day they buy it.
Other people may worry about shopping online because
they fear their credit card information will be compromised.
Since it's necessary to provide credit card information when
purchasing products online, people worry they may become the
victims of identity theft. This discourages some consumers from
participating in online shopping.
Another reason some consumers avoid shopping online is
the fact that they worry that the products they purchase are not
accurately portrayed in the website's picture. They worry that the
picture of the item may appear one way, but the actual item may
look completely different — perhaps of lesser quality. It's also
impossible to try on apparel when conducting online shopping.
A consumer has to rely on body measurements in order to make
sure the clothing will fit properly. If the clothing arrives in the
mail and it's too small, the consumer has to return the item. This
is a potential inconvenience that some shoppers may not wish to
face.
On the other hand, [4] buying motives are related to
emotional needs of individuals for enjoyable and interesting
shopping experiences. The e-shopping tendency is increasing
rapidly among buyers across the world [4]
In today's world of commerce, the Internet fills a need for busy
consumers similar to those mail-order catalogs that were so
popular a century ago.
Most of people have found that today's online shopping
experience is much safer, more efficient, and immensely more
convenient than a trip to the mall.
Online sales from the Kingdom alone amounted to 3 billion
US dollars in 2010 and 39% of internet users engaged in e-
commerce. Market statistics indicate that we’re talking about a
young, tech-savvy consumer society with access to credit cards
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
The growth of Internet technology in Saudi Arabia has
enormous potential as it reduces the costs of product and service
delivery and extends geographical boundaries in bringing buyers
and sellers together.
There is a limited amount of published research exploring
the precedents that govern the adoption acceptance of e-
commerce by customers in developing countries in the Middle
East [3, 21, 1].
Regarding consumer online shopping [35, 36, 37] have
made a great deal of research and discussed many influential
factors on online shopping. They have studied consumer online
shopping intention, motivation and decision making.
Early researchers observed the great potential contribution
of electronic commerce in business performance and attempted
to study the important aspects, attributes and their properties
related to the success of online shopping stores [23, 24, 27, 25,
26]. Also, confirmed the importance factors that affected the
success online shopping include system quality, information
quality, on-time delivery, sale services, [28, 26]. Also, there have
been extensive studies of online shopping attitudes and behaviour
in recent years to determine the factors that influence the buying
decisions online [22]
Taking into consideration what online store attributes and the
important in choosing an online store [29, 30, 32, 4, 31, 33]
Website design significantly affects the user’s shopping attitudes
and behaviour in term of purchasing decision and purchasing
recurrence [34]
The usage of the Internet recently is no longer limited to the
media networks, but exceeded to use it as a means of transaction
for consumers in the global market [6].
The researchers explored several different aspects of the
factors that affect the consumer adoption and acceptance of
online shopping. [2] May be conducted a recent study to provide
an understanding of the adoption of online shopping within
Asian countries. Their investigation falls into three main
categories: consumer attitudes towards online transaction
management systems; the privacy and security of consumers’
personal information within vendor systems; and trust in the
reliability of online sellers. Their findings show that security
issues of the online transaction procedure and the reliability and
trustworthiness of online merchants have a direct impact on
consumers' confidence in adopting online shopping [2].
Furthermore, [3] conducted a study to investigate the factors
that encourage the adoption of online banking by customers in
Saudi Arabia. Also, [10] a study noted that, the Saudi Arabia E-
Commerce spending is 12 billion Saudi Riyal (SR) in 2010;
however, only 14.26% of the Saudi population were involved in
E-Commerce activities.
In the United States many other studies have contributed to
an understanding of E-Commerce adoption [11, 12, 13], and also
throughout Europe [14, 15, 16]; and in Australia [17, 18, 19] and
Asia [20, 2, 8].
III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This study employed a survey research in order to find out
how consumers shape their attitudes and make aim shopping
across online. The random samples can be used where the
population can be divided into sub units, and then randomly
selected from all these groups. Various methods used such as
questionnaires and observations. They have been used by
investigation for the study in a different exit to online shopping
between different gender, different demographic areas, and
different types of age group of interest of expectance, interest,
based on the study, the design of a questionnaire and are chosen
by the public as a huge and professionally.
The survey was depending on examining the position of the
210 of the people to fill out the questionnaire online shopping
based on the closed ended questions. The data were collected
through different population of Teachers and students from
various institutions and the general public from various
professions. The questionnaires have been circulated among 140
teachers and students and 70 of the general public from different
region in Saudi Arabia. They asked them to give the answer yes,
do not and don’t know.
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Result and analysis data in terms of demographical
information
Discription Frequency Percent
Male 150 71.43
Gender Female 60 28.57
Total 210 100
Age 18-28 102 48.57
29-39 90 42.86
Over 40 18 8.57
Total 210 100
Table 1.The results of the survey on demographical
information
Figure 1: Illustrates gender purchase online
The results of the demographic profile analysis according to
the result on Table 1.which showed in the figure 1, that 71.43%
of the male and 28.57% of the female respondents participated in
online shopping survey. The study revealed that, the online
shoppers were deviated toward males, and showed that the gap
between males and females was so big
Figure 2: Illustrates purchase online by age
In this survey, the respondents are categorized into 3 levels
of age groups; 18 to 28 years old; 29 to 39 years old and over 40
years old. As stated in Table 1, and show in figure 2. a majority
of the respondents (48.57%) fall in the age range between 18 to
28 years of age. This is followed by 42.86% of the respondents
from the 29 to 39 years of age category. Finally, 8.57% of the
respondents fall in the over 40 years of age category.
The results of the survey reveal that investigation on online
shopping attracting mostly young population age group of 18 –
28 years old, has more potential to shop online because of their
interest in using new technologies to search for product
information and compare and evaluate alternatives.
Figure 3: Shows people moving rapidly toward online
shopping
Online shopping is a new thing for people in Saudi Arabia.
According to the survey results figure 3, shows that people are
rapidly moving towards online shopping. About 55% of the
respondent replied that they have enjoyed online shopping and
surfing the internet for pleasure, having access to a broader,
deeper product selection, a greater variety of stores and having
fun shopping experiences. Also 45% of the respondent declared
that they have never experienced online shopping at all.
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Expectedly, more people of Saudi Arabia will try to do online
shopping in the future. Saudi Arabia is finally recognizing the
various benefits of online shopping. The benefits of online
shopping are endless and it is about time that our local businesses
seize this opportunity and enter the 21st century digital age,
because what’s better then enjoying a great shopping experience
from the comfort of your own home? Unfortunately, some Saudi
shoppers have yet to be convinced of this worldwide popular
shopping method, as they still don’t fully trust websites with
their credit card information. We need to take a leap of faith and
persuade other shoppers to get into the digital frenzy.
A. Convenience
The online generation has witnessed a massive sea of
innovative ideas that has changed the way we do anything,
forever. The simple task of shopping has now been made much
simpler by making it possible for you to shop in the middle of the
night, on your couch, in your pajamas, from any country you
desire and that’s the ultimate dream.
Also not having to deal with crowded lines at the register,
the slow credit card machines or when it comes to Saudi women,
the missing driver. It is also tremendously convenient for those
of us with busy schedules who just don’t have the time to go
skipping from store to store.
The absolute advantage of being able to choose from a wide
range of different brands and sellers at one stop only. As well as
landing the items that are sold-out or unavailable in store.
Through online shopping we can get the product easily by
just typing the keywords of the product rather than physically
finding the product in the market. Online shopping has facilitated
the customers to get their required product from internet
according to their needs and demands by just entering the details
and needs about the product.
Most of the respondents consider that online shopping
involves less effort than actual physical shopping. It seems that
we never have the time to go look for the perfect gift for a special
someone; online shopping now makes that almost effortless. It is
now feasible to send your gift across the world on the exact date
you want. Wrapped, signed and delivered.
Figure 4: illustrates the convenience factor for online
shopping
Figure 4, results confirms that almost 48% people have
opinion in accordance with this fact that online shopping is
convenient and easy, being able to conduct a wider information
search, being able to make a broader product selection, and
buying at better prices, as compare to shopping in the market.
The consumers shop online because it is convenient in terms
of being quick and easy to shop and to make product and price
comparisons 24/7 from wherever they are. Consumers can order
products twenty-four hours a day wherever they are, and do not
have to walk through countless boardwalks to find and examine
goods.
On the other side about 22% were in opposition to this
perception that it is not very convenient and easy for everyone to
find the right product easily through online shopping. About 30
% were neutral in this regard that online shopping is neither
convenient nor inconvenient. Overall respondents have a positive
attitude towards online shopping is convenient.
B. Trust & Security
Probably the most important thing consumer should
research in an online merchant is their security level. Security
indicates how safe consumer credit card information will be by
using encryption and the SSL (secure socket layers) technology,
the industry-standard method for protecting all Web
communications.
Legitimate merchants will work hard to employ obvious
measures that will earn consumer trust.
Trust and security is the main factor that hinders people
from purchasing online. This will investigate comprehensively
the respondent attitude towards trust and security when shopping
online. It has been asked from the respondent how much they felt
secure when shopping online. The use of credit and debit cards
and other account details while shopping online creates a risk of
disclose of personal details due to which it could be misuse of
personal and account information of the customer.
Security online is significantly an ongoing issue concerning
online merchants for several reasons. Consumers have concerns
about providing credit card numbers online due to unauthorised
use thereof, hackers and viruses. They are also concerned that
online vendors may not satisfactorily deliver the goods ordered
or that the merchandise may be inferior, incorrectly selected, or
may never arrive.
Figure 5: Illustrates security and trust factor for online
shopping
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According to survey results figure 5, show that majority of
the respondent about 55% of the consumers felt secure for online
shopping and saying shopping online was as safe as shopping in
a store. It is very important for the people to feel secure when
purchasing goods online. At the same time about 30% of the
respondents not felt secure when doing online shopping. About
15% of the respondents were neutral in trust and security factor
for online shopping. It is enlightening that majority of the
respondents have positive attitude towards feeling secure when
shopping online in Saudi.
C. Time Saving
One of the best reasons to shop online is the ability to save
time. Modern lives have become very busy, with work and
leisure activities quickly taking over all the hours of the day.
While some lucky guys may love nothing more than to hit the
high street and shop, others simply don’t have the time as they
are too busy with their families or with work. This is where
online shopping is becoming increasingly important as it saves
valuable time which can be put to better use elsewhere.
Time is the major concern for the people, using shopping
online their major desires to save time while shopping.
Figure 6: Illustrates saving time factor in online shopping
The results in figure 6, show that about 68% of the people
positively believe that much time is saved while shopping online
because it is the fact that when shopping online from home or
office does not involve to leave that place, that could be consider
as a time saving. On the other side about 28% of the people have
neutral attitude about this and 4% of the people have negative
attitude towards time saving factor through online shopping.
D. Price
The most important factor that shoppers around the world
consider before making a purchase online is price, closely
followed by reliability and choice.
Also Price is the major concern that people in Saudi takes in
consideration before purchasing online and people have mixed
fear that cost is usually high. Price factor involves checking the
respondent’s attitude to save money when shopping online.
Figure 7: Illustrates price factor for online shopping
Figure 7 show whether the respondent felt that they are
saving money when they are shopping online as compare to
physical shopping. It shows that about 44% of the respondents
believe that the Price is not high when shopping online and they
had saved money and it is very necessary to save money when
shopping online in Saudi. Prices for goods online may be
relatively low for various reasons. Such as, the overhead cost of
maintaining a web site is much less than that of a regular retail
outlet, yielding a cost saving which may be passed on to the
consumer. Prices are driven down by a larger number of
competing stores, since the internet closes the geographical
distance of physical stores.
About 32% of the respondents believe that the cost is
usually high through online shopping and they have not saved
money. At the same time about 24% people say either the cost is
high or low. Their attitude towards price factor was neutral
E. Language
Every one prefers the website for online shopping which is
familiar with the language that a person knows so that he or she
can easily understands the details about the product to shop
online but if a consumers does not know the language he / she
would not be able to purchase anything from that particular
website and the consumer prefer to shop physically rather than
online shopping.
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Figure8: Illustrates convenience toward website language of
online shopping
Figure 8, show that overall respondents have positive
attitude towards website language which is convenience for
online buyers to shop online their products easily. About 47% of
the respondents have agreed with this expression and 29% are
neutral in this regard and 24% of the respondents weren’t agreed
with this factor.
F. Recommended
Massive and huge expansion of Internet from the past
decade, the people of Saudi are taking high interest in online
shopping. When people try to do online shopping while they are
sitting in their homes or work place and find what they need
without having to leave the house, or worry about a car park. So
to help keep them even more protected when you shop online,
after obtaining good service response, product quality,
competitive price and on time delivery through online shopping,
they always try to recommend their friends and family members
for online shopping.
The majority of people prefer to purchase goods together
with their family members to talk things over with them whether
to purchase this or that thing or not. There is also on-line social
commerce, Social shopping service covers all the areas of
commerce and gives an opportunity to get necessary materials on
shopping matters at the site. In this way you have an opportunity
to talk about the items you're interested in, to exchange thoughts
on numerous questions and to get assistance in selecting an item
you are looking for.
Figure 9: recommendation factor in online shopping
According to the survey, results in figure 9, are evidence for
that about 58% of the participant were not advisable by someone
to buy products online, at the same time only 42% of the people
were recommended by someone either their friends or family
members to do online shopping.
G. Promotions
Online shopping companies have found opportunities to
market their products in the whole world. Also they can easily
increase the sale of their product by offering discount. While
another factor is consumer enjoying promotion on online
shopping. Sometimes different companies introduce different
discounted deals for its customers but dealers do not sometimes
let their consumers to enjoy those benefits but through online
shopping consumers can get discounts directly from the
company. That encourage consumer to shop online.
It is no surprise that you are able to find the same items that
are in store for a much better price online, especially if you have
a discount coupon. The reason for that is that your items get
delivered to you directly from the manufacturer through the
Internet, instead of going through a middle-man, which results in
higher prices.
It’s amazing how much you can save with online discount
coupons; you can get a good deal on almost anything from
restaurant meals, hotel bookings to amusement park tickets.
Figure10: promotion and discounts deals in online shopping
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The results of the survey in Figure 10, demonstrate that
about 65% of the respondents have agreed with this
contemplation that different organizations would be able to
market their products or brands through online shopping via
Internet and they can offer cash discount deals on online
shopping instantly. About 17% of the respondents neither agree
nor disagree on online marketing and get discounted deals
directly. Only 18% of the respondents were in opposition to this
stance and they had never get discounted deals through online
shopping.
H. Buying behaviour
Consumers believe that moods influence buying behaviour.
In Saudi Arabia culture, there are bounties of the factors which
are affecting online shopping consumers buying behaviour. For
instance psychological, social, emotional and privacy factors
have major affects on consumer’s buying behaviour.
Figure11: Illustrates buying behaviour in online shopping
Figure 11, results shows that 39% of the respondent had
agreed on that Psychological factor is the main factor not to do
online shopping and affecting consumer buying behaviour .
About 23% of the respondents pointed out the privacy factor,
21% pointed out social factor and 17% pointed out emotional
factor affecting Saudi consumers buying behaviour. It has been
mentioned that adverse to democratic belief, the consumers will
not have to pay for privacy, and consists of the elimination of the
revelation of the identity of the Internet Services.
IV. CONCLUSION
The study was identified the impact of consumers’ attitude
and buying behaviour towards online shopping in Saudi Arabia.
Online shopping is getting more and more fashionable in Saudi
Arabia as well as in rest of the world, but the speed of online
shopping in Saudi Arabia is slower compared to the entire world.
According to our survey, online shopping is getting popular in
the younger generation such as students and professionals.
Students usually prefer to buy goods from its original source and
often they prefer to shop online.
When consumers like to make purchases online to buy
something, he or she is affected by a variety of factors. The main
influencing factors were identified as, price, confidence, security,
convenience, time, sale service and discounted deals. The price
factor encourages consumers because the prices are often lower
via online shopping compared with actual purchases in the
market. Buying online can be of great benefit to the consumer in
terms of convenience, saving time and money.
Also the promotion and discount deals encourage
consumers to get positively involve and purchase online.
According to this study, one of the main obstacles in the
way of online shopping is that trust and security factor influence
Saudi consumers trust in shopping online.
To improve this business is somehow under control of
internet vendor. So consumers must be provided with sufficient
protection of internet shopping. People usually get petrified when
the other computer demands the complete details of the
customers. Due to which a customer gets anxious that his or her
personal details may get revealed and their precious money and
account details get damaged. Tranquillity is obviously necessary
given that the consumer must share personal information (full
name, delivery address and date of birth) and financial
information (credit card detail) when shopping online. That
makes trust and confidence an important factor.
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AUTHORS
First Author – Nahla Khalil, College of Computers and
Information Technology, Taif University, Saudi Arabia
doc_409611796.pdf
The purpose of this paper is to review and study the factors affecting the consumer's attitudes directly for online shopping in Saudi Arabia. The survey was conducted and 210 questionnaires collected from students and staff of different universities and general public in Saud Arabia.
International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 4, Issue 11, November 2014 1
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Factors affecting the consumer’s attitudes on online
shopping in Saudi Arabia
Nahla Khalil
College of Computers and Information Technology, Taif University, Saudi Arabia
Abstract- The invention of the internet has created a new pattern
of the traditional way people shop. Today, online shopping is
ideal for many of people with disabilities, people with children,
people with hectic schedules, and others who just may not have
the time or the energy to spend all day walking around the mall.
The purpose of this paper is to review and study the factors
affecting the consumer’s attitudes directly for online shopping in
Saudi Arabia.
The survey was conducted and 210 questionnaires collected
from students and staff of different universities and general
public in Saud Arabia.
The collected data have been analyzed by means of
frequency distribution, average and chart analysis. The results of
the survey has shown that most of people already shopping
online and prefer to make their purchases online, also there are
factors that make the buyer hesitant to come online purchasing,
Where security and privacy top concern of the purchaser. Among
the factors influencing the purchase online are the price, the trust,
the convenience and the recommendations
The growth of internet technology in Saudi Arabia has
enormous potential as it reduces the costs of product and service
delivery and extends geographical boundaries in bringing buyers
and sellers together.
Factors such as price, trust in quality and brand or the
availability of products images may all serve, to different degree,
as important elements in customer decision making when
purchasing products online.
The study achieved that the purchase online is easy,
comfortable and better than conventional shopping due to various
factors.
I. INTRODUCTION
audi Arabia has been linked to the Internet in 1993, but
public access was not widely available until January 1999.
Internet connectivity was launched in many Universities and
some government agencies in February 1999 [5] and made
available to the public through commercial ISPs.
Using internet has facilitated access a large range of
collecting information, purchasing goods and services that were
almost hard to obtain. With few mouse clicks, information about
most topics can be found in seconds and keeping in touch with
distant friends has never easier. Among the many information
resources and services the internet provides is online shopping.
Online shopping is the process of buying goods and services
from merchants who sell on the Internet, which has grown
dramatically in the last decade [1]. This incredible growth can be
seen in the online population [2]. Whereas, the United States,
followed by Europe, represents the largest share with about 79%
of the global E-Commerce revenue, over 875 million consumers
have shopped online [7]. The number of online shoppers has also
increased up to 40% in the last two years. Among Internet users
with Internet access shopping, the highest percentage for online
shopping is found in South Korea (99%), UK (97%), Germany
(97%), Japan (97%), and US (94%). African and Middle Eastern
regions, on the other hand, have the smallest share with about 3%
of the global E-Commerce revenue [8].
Furthermore, more recent statistics predicts [9] that online
retail revenue will grow from $191.7 billion in 2011 to $248.7
billion in 2014, representing an 8 percent compound annual
growth rate.
There is no doubt that in the 21st century Saudi Arabia has
entered a new phase of globalization. The growth of internet
usage in Saudi Arabia changes the behaviour of customers doing
business and it has become one of the most significant
communication channels. Furthermore, [3] conducted a recent
study to identify the factors that encourage the adoption of online
banking by customers in Saudi Arabia.
But, the internet has not yet been fully exploited in the
Saudi market, as it has been in the European, American and
Asian countries. Recently, the internet has seen a great
improvement in the number of Saudi internet users. That’s where
merchants have sought to sell their products to people who surf
the Internet. Shoppers can visit web stores from the comfort of
their homes and shop as they sit in front of the computer and buy
a variety of items from online stores. In fact, people can purchase
just about anything from companies that provide their products
online. Books, clothing, household appliances, toys, hardware,
software, and health insurance are just some of the hundreds of
products consumers can buy from an online store. Many people
prefer using shopping online because of the convenience.
In Saudi Arabia began using purchase online from other
countries, where the trade process is completed and the money
was transferred through a credit card to other country’s company.
They found that individual attitudes toward e-shopping
significantly and positively affect user acceptance. Also various
motives of buyer online while taking into account the emotional
behaviour with benefits related to the purchase of goods and
services online.
Moreover, companies continue to establish a presence on
the Internet, they find that some consumers are still hesitant to
shift in the same direction.
Despite the convenience of online shopping, not everyone
chooses to purchase items and services online. Some people like
the idea of physically going to a store and experiencing the
shopping process. They like to touch the merchandise, try on
clothing, and be around other people. Online shopping doesn't
S
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permit shoppers to touch products or have any social interaction.
It also doesn't allow them to take the merchandise home the same
day they buy it.
Other people may worry about shopping online because
they fear their credit card information will be compromised.
Since it's necessary to provide credit card information when
purchasing products online, people worry they may become the
victims of identity theft. This discourages some consumers from
participating in online shopping.
Another reason some consumers avoid shopping online is
the fact that they worry that the products they purchase are not
accurately portrayed in the website's picture. They worry that the
picture of the item may appear one way, but the actual item may
look completely different — perhaps of lesser quality. It's also
impossible to try on apparel when conducting online shopping.
A consumer has to rely on body measurements in order to make
sure the clothing will fit properly. If the clothing arrives in the
mail and it's too small, the consumer has to return the item. This
is a potential inconvenience that some shoppers may not wish to
face.
On the other hand, [4] buying motives are related to
emotional needs of individuals for enjoyable and interesting
shopping experiences. The e-shopping tendency is increasing
rapidly among buyers across the world [4]
In today's world of commerce, the Internet fills a need for busy
consumers similar to those mail-order catalogs that were so
popular a century ago.
Most of people have found that today's online shopping
experience is much safer, more efficient, and immensely more
convenient than a trip to the mall.
Online sales from the Kingdom alone amounted to 3 billion
US dollars in 2010 and 39% of internet users engaged in e-
commerce. Market statistics indicate that we’re talking about a
young, tech-savvy consumer society with access to credit cards
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
The growth of Internet technology in Saudi Arabia has
enormous potential as it reduces the costs of product and service
delivery and extends geographical boundaries in bringing buyers
and sellers together.
There is a limited amount of published research exploring
the precedents that govern the adoption acceptance of e-
commerce by customers in developing countries in the Middle
East [3, 21, 1].
Regarding consumer online shopping [35, 36, 37] have
made a great deal of research and discussed many influential
factors on online shopping. They have studied consumer online
shopping intention, motivation and decision making.
Early researchers observed the great potential contribution
of electronic commerce in business performance and attempted
to study the important aspects, attributes and their properties
related to the success of online shopping stores [23, 24, 27, 25,
26]. Also, confirmed the importance factors that affected the
success online shopping include system quality, information
quality, on-time delivery, sale services, [28, 26]. Also, there have
been extensive studies of online shopping attitudes and behaviour
in recent years to determine the factors that influence the buying
decisions online [22]
Taking into consideration what online store attributes and the
important in choosing an online store [29, 30, 32, 4, 31, 33]
Website design significantly affects the user’s shopping attitudes
and behaviour in term of purchasing decision and purchasing
recurrence [34]
The usage of the Internet recently is no longer limited to the
media networks, but exceeded to use it as a means of transaction
for consumers in the global market [6].
The researchers explored several different aspects of the
factors that affect the consumer adoption and acceptance of
online shopping. [2] May be conducted a recent study to provide
an understanding of the adoption of online shopping within
Asian countries. Their investigation falls into three main
categories: consumer attitudes towards online transaction
management systems; the privacy and security of consumers’
personal information within vendor systems; and trust in the
reliability of online sellers. Their findings show that security
issues of the online transaction procedure and the reliability and
trustworthiness of online merchants have a direct impact on
consumers' confidence in adopting online shopping [2].
Furthermore, [3] conducted a study to investigate the factors
that encourage the adoption of online banking by customers in
Saudi Arabia. Also, [10] a study noted that, the Saudi Arabia E-
Commerce spending is 12 billion Saudi Riyal (SR) in 2010;
however, only 14.26% of the Saudi population were involved in
E-Commerce activities.
In the United States many other studies have contributed to
an understanding of E-Commerce adoption [11, 12, 13], and also
throughout Europe [14, 15, 16]; and in Australia [17, 18, 19] and
Asia [20, 2, 8].
III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This study employed a survey research in order to find out
how consumers shape their attitudes and make aim shopping
across online. The random samples can be used where the
population can be divided into sub units, and then randomly
selected from all these groups. Various methods used such as
questionnaires and observations. They have been used by
investigation for the study in a different exit to online shopping
between different gender, different demographic areas, and
different types of age group of interest of expectance, interest,
based on the study, the design of a questionnaire and are chosen
by the public as a huge and professionally.
The survey was depending on examining the position of the
210 of the people to fill out the questionnaire online shopping
based on the closed ended questions. The data were collected
through different population of Teachers and students from
various institutions and the general public from various
professions. The questionnaires have been circulated among 140
teachers and students and 70 of the general public from different
region in Saudi Arabia. They asked them to give the answer yes,
do not and don’t know.
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Result and analysis data in terms of demographical
information
Discription Frequency Percent
Male 150 71.43
Gender Female 60 28.57
Total 210 100
Age 18-28 102 48.57
29-39 90 42.86
Over 40 18 8.57
Total 210 100
Table 1.The results of the survey on demographical
information
Figure 1: Illustrates gender purchase online
The results of the demographic profile analysis according to
the result on Table 1.which showed in the figure 1, that 71.43%
of the male and 28.57% of the female respondents participated in
online shopping survey. The study revealed that, the online
shoppers were deviated toward males, and showed that the gap
between males and females was so big
Figure 2: Illustrates purchase online by age
In this survey, the respondents are categorized into 3 levels
of age groups; 18 to 28 years old; 29 to 39 years old and over 40
years old. As stated in Table 1, and show in figure 2. a majority
of the respondents (48.57%) fall in the age range between 18 to
28 years of age. This is followed by 42.86% of the respondents
from the 29 to 39 years of age category. Finally, 8.57% of the
respondents fall in the over 40 years of age category.
The results of the survey reveal that investigation on online
shopping attracting mostly young population age group of 18 –
28 years old, has more potential to shop online because of their
interest in using new technologies to search for product
information and compare and evaluate alternatives.
Figure 3: Shows people moving rapidly toward online
shopping
Online shopping is a new thing for people in Saudi Arabia.
According to the survey results figure 3, shows that people are
rapidly moving towards online shopping. About 55% of the
respondent replied that they have enjoyed online shopping and
surfing the internet for pleasure, having access to a broader,
deeper product selection, a greater variety of stores and having
fun shopping experiences. Also 45% of the respondent declared
that they have never experienced online shopping at all.
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Expectedly, more people of Saudi Arabia will try to do online
shopping in the future. Saudi Arabia is finally recognizing the
various benefits of online shopping. The benefits of online
shopping are endless and it is about time that our local businesses
seize this opportunity and enter the 21st century digital age,
because what’s better then enjoying a great shopping experience
from the comfort of your own home? Unfortunately, some Saudi
shoppers have yet to be convinced of this worldwide popular
shopping method, as they still don’t fully trust websites with
their credit card information. We need to take a leap of faith and
persuade other shoppers to get into the digital frenzy.
A. Convenience
The online generation has witnessed a massive sea of
innovative ideas that has changed the way we do anything,
forever. The simple task of shopping has now been made much
simpler by making it possible for you to shop in the middle of the
night, on your couch, in your pajamas, from any country you
desire and that’s the ultimate dream.
Also not having to deal with crowded lines at the register,
the slow credit card machines or when it comes to Saudi women,
the missing driver. It is also tremendously convenient for those
of us with busy schedules who just don’t have the time to go
skipping from store to store.
The absolute advantage of being able to choose from a wide
range of different brands and sellers at one stop only. As well as
landing the items that are sold-out or unavailable in store.
Through online shopping we can get the product easily by
just typing the keywords of the product rather than physically
finding the product in the market. Online shopping has facilitated
the customers to get their required product from internet
according to their needs and demands by just entering the details
and needs about the product.
Most of the respondents consider that online shopping
involves less effort than actual physical shopping. It seems that
we never have the time to go look for the perfect gift for a special
someone; online shopping now makes that almost effortless. It is
now feasible to send your gift across the world on the exact date
you want. Wrapped, signed and delivered.
Figure 4: illustrates the convenience factor for online
shopping
Figure 4, results confirms that almost 48% people have
opinion in accordance with this fact that online shopping is
convenient and easy, being able to conduct a wider information
search, being able to make a broader product selection, and
buying at better prices, as compare to shopping in the market.
The consumers shop online because it is convenient in terms
of being quick and easy to shop and to make product and price
comparisons 24/7 from wherever they are. Consumers can order
products twenty-four hours a day wherever they are, and do not
have to walk through countless boardwalks to find and examine
goods.
On the other side about 22% were in opposition to this
perception that it is not very convenient and easy for everyone to
find the right product easily through online shopping. About 30
% were neutral in this regard that online shopping is neither
convenient nor inconvenient. Overall respondents have a positive
attitude towards online shopping is convenient.
B. Trust & Security
Probably the most important thing consumer should
research in an online merchant is their security level. Security
indicates how safe consumer credit card information will be by
using encryption and the SSL (secure socket layers) technology,
the industry-standard method for protecting all Web
communications.
Legitimate merchants will work hard to employ obvious
measures that will earn consumer trust.
Trust and security is the main factor that hinders people
from purchasing online. This will investigate comprehensively
the respondent attitude towards trust and security when shopping
online. It has been asked from the respondent how much they felt
secure when shopping online. The use of credit and debit cards
and other account details while shopping online creates a risk of
disclose of personal details due to which it could be misuse of
personal and account information of the customer.
Security online is significantly an ongoing issue concerning
online merchants for several reasons. Consumers have concerns
about providing credit card numbers online due to unauthorised
use thereof, hackers and viruses. They are also concerned that
online vendors may not satisfactorily deliver the goods ordered
or that the merchandise may be inferior, incorrectly selected, or
may never arrive.
Figure 5: Illustrates security and trust factor for online
shopping
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According to survey results figure 5, show that majority of
the respondent about 55% of the consumers felt secure for online
shopping and saying shopping online was as safe as shopping in
a store. It is very important for the people to feel secure when
purchasing goods online. At the same time about 30% of the
respondents not felt secure when doing online shopping. About
15% of the respondents were neutral in trust and security factor
for online shopping. It is enlightening that majority of the
respondents have positive attitude towards feeling secure when
shopping online in Saudi.
C. Time Saving
One of the best reasons to shop online is the ability to save
time. Modern lives have become very busy, with work and
leisure activities quickly taking over all the hours of the day.
While some lucky guys may love nothing more than to hit the
high street and shop, others simply don’t have the time as they
are too busy with their families or with work. This is where
online shopping is becoming increasingly important as it saves
valuable time which can be put to better use elsewhere.
Time is the major concern for the people, using shopping
online their major desires to save time while shopping.
Figure 6: Illustrates saving time factor in online shopping
The results in figure 6, show that about 68% of the people
positively believe that much time is saved while shopping online
because it is the fact that when shopping online from home or
office does not involve to leave that place, that could be consider
as a time saving. On the other side about 28% of the people have
neutral attitude about this and 4% of the people have negative
attitude towards time saving factor through online shopping.
D. Price
The most important factor that shoppers around the world
consider before making a purchase online is price, closely
followed by reliability and choice.
Also Price is the major concern that people in Saudi takes in
consideration before purchasing online and people have mixed
fear that cost is usually high. Price factor involves checking the
respondent’s attitude to save money when shopping online.
Figure 7: Illustrates price factor for online shopping
Figure 7 show whether the respondent felt that they are
saving money when they are shopping online as compare to
physical shopping. It shows that about 44% of the respondents
believe that the Price is not high when shopping online and they
had saved money and it is very necessary to save money when
shopping online in Saudi. Prices for goods online may be
relatively low for various reasons. Such as, the overhead cost of
maintaining a web site is much less than that of a regular retail
outlet, yielding a cost saving which may be passed on to the
consumer. Prices are driven down by a larger number of
competing stores, since the internet closes the geographical
distance of physical stores.
About 32% of the respondents believe that the cost is
usually high through online shopping and they have not saved
money. At the same time about 24% people say either the cost is
high or low. Their attitude towards price factor was neutral
E. Language
Every one prefers the website for online shopping which is
familiar with the language that a person knows so that he or she
can easily understands the details about the product to shop
online but if a consumers does not know the language he / she
would not be able to purchase anything from that particular
website and the consumer prefer to shop physically rather than
online shopping.
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Figure8: Illustrates convenience toward website language of
online shopping
Figure 8, show that overall respondents have positive
attitude towards website language which is convenience for
online buyers to shop online their products easily. About 47% of
the respondents have agreed with this expression and 29% are
neutral in this regard and 24% of the respondents weren’t agreed
with this factor.
F. Recommended
Massive and huge expansion of Internet from the past
decade, the people of Saudi are taking high interest in online
shopping. When people try to do online shopping while they are
sitting in their homes or work place and find what they need
without having to leave the house, or worry about a car park. So
to help keep them even more protected when you shop online,
after obtaining good service response, product quality,
competitive price and on time delivery through online shopping,
they always try to recommend their friends and family members
for online shopping.
The majority of people prefer to purchase goods together
with their family members to talk things over with them whether
to purchase this or that thing or not. There is also on-line social
commerce, Social shopping service covers all the areas of
commerce and gives an opportunity to get necessary materials on
shopping matters at the site. In this way you have an opportunity
to talk about the items you're interested in, to exchange thoughts
on numerous questions and to get assistance in selecting an item
you are looking for.
Figure 9: recommendation factor in online shopping
According to the survey, results in figure 9, are evidence for
that about 58% of the participant were not advisable by someone
to buy products online, at the same time only 42% of the people
were recommended by someone either their friends or family
members to do online shopping.
G. Promotions
Online shopping companies have found opportunities to
market their products in the whole world. Also they can easily
increase the sale of their product by offering discount. While
another factor is consumer enjoying promotion on online
shopping. Sometimes different companies introduce different
discounted deals for its customers but dealers do not sometimes
let their consumers to enjoy those benefits but through online
shopping consumers can get discounts directly from the
company. That encourage consumer to shop online.
It is no surprise that you are able to find the same items that
are in store for a much better price online, especially if you have
a discount coupon. The reason for that is that your items get
delivered to you directly from the manufacturer through the
Internet, instead of going through a middle-man, which results in
higher prices.
It’s amazing how much you can save with online discount
coupons; you can get a good deal on almost anything from
restaurant meals, hotel bookings to amusement park tickets.
Figure10: promotion and discounts deals in online shopping
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The results of the survey in Figure 10, demonstrate that
about 65% of the respondents have agreed with this
contemplation that different organizations would be able to
market their products or brands through online shopping via
Internet and they can offer cash discount deals on online
shopping instantly. About 17% of the respondents neither agree
nor disagree on online marketing and get discounted deals
directly. Only 18% of the respondents were in opposition to this
stance and they had never get discounted deals through online
shopping.
H. Buying behaviour
Consumers believe that moods influence buying behaviour.
In Saudi Arabia culture, there are bounties of the factors which
are affecting online shopping consumers buying behaviour. For
instance psychological, social, emotional and privacy factors
have major affects on consumer’s buying behaviour.
Figure11: Illustrates buying behaviour in online shopping
Figure 11, results shows that 39% of the respondent had
agreed on that Psychological factor is the main factor not to do
online shopping and affecting consumer buying behaviour .
About 23% of the respondents pointed out the privacy factor,
21% pointed out social factor and 17% pointed out emotional
factor affecting Saudi consumers buying behaviour. It has been
mentioned that adverse to democratic belief, the consumers will
not have to pay for privacy, and consists of the elimination of the
revelation of the identity of the Internet Services.
IV. CONCLUSION
The study was identified the impact of consumers’ attitude
and buying behaviour towards online shopping in Saudi Arabia.
Online shopping is getting more and more fashionable in Saudi
Arabia as well as in rest of the world, but the speed of online
shopping in Saudi Arabia is slower compared to the entire world.
According to our survey, online shopping is getting popular in
the younger generation such as students and professionals.
Students usually prefer to buy goods from its original source and
often they prefer to shop online.
When consumers like to make purchases online to buy
something, he or she is affected by a variety of factors. The main
influencing factors were identified as, price, confidence, security,
convenience, time, sale service and discounted deals. The price
factor encourages consumers because the prices are often lower
via online shopping compared with actual purchases in the
market. Buying online can be of great benefit to the consumer in
terms of convenience, saving time and money.
Also the promotion and discount deals encourage
consumers to get positively involve and purchase online.
According to this study, one of the main obstacles in the
way of online shopping is that trust and security factor influence
Saudi consumers trust in shopping online.
To improve this business is somehow under control of
internet vendor. So consumers must be provided with sufficient
protection of internet shopping. People usually get petrified when
the other computer demands the complete details of the
customers. Due to which a customer gets anxious that his or her
personal details may get revealed and their precious money and
account details get damaged. Tranquillity is obviously necessary
given that the consumer must share personal information (full
name, delivery address and date of birth) and financial
information (credit card detail) when shopping online. That
makes trust and confidence an important factor.
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AUTHORS
First Author – Nahla Khalil, College of Computers and
Information Technology, Taif University, Saudi Arabia
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