Online Buying: Singapore Case Study

YOUTH’S PERCEPTION OF RISK IN THE ONLINE CONSUMER BUYING PROCESS: A SINGAPORE CASE STUDY

[pic]

Youth’s Perception of Risk in the

Online Consumer Buying Process:

A Singapore Case Study

Prepared for:

Ms Ruth Fung Yuen Shan

Instructor, MKT2401, Asian Markets and Marketing Management

National University of Singapore, School of Business

Prepared by:

Carl Oscar Harald Castler, NT090544A, Index No. 3

Gong Lei, U064364H, Index No. 12

Leow Le Hia, U060033L, Index No. 22

Ochi Hiroyuki, U081529N, Index No. 32

Tan Kok Siong, U078528N, index No. 41

Wee Huiyi, U078463U, Index No. 48

Research Project Group 5

Sectional Group: A3

22 October 2009

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Businesses are increasingly adopting the internet as an alternative or additional distribution channel. This is particularly true for businesses reaching out to young, technologically savvy consumers. It would then be useful for marketers to understand the risk perception of youths in the online consumer buying process.

A study was commissioned to examine risk perception throughout the online consumer buying process. In total, 170 respondents aged 20 to 34 with online shopping experience were surveyed.

The report concludes that youth consumers’ perceived risk of online shopping generally decreases as they go along the five stages of Consumer Buying Process. Perceived risk increases with the amount of money spent online, and decreases with education level attained. Between working and non-working consumers, the former were found to have higher risk perception than the latter. Throughout the CBP privacy risk was found to be the major concern amongst all respondents.

It is therefore proposed that marketers should manage expectations of consumers by providing relevant and accurate information on their websites, upgrading their security levels with digital certificates such as VeriSign, easing the consumer buying process by having user-friendly features such as visual interface...