Friday September 3, 7:21 pm Eastern Time
Internet shoppers unhappy with service, survey says
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Online shopping is growing dramatically -- but so is
frustration with the e-commerce shopping sites, according to a survey released Friday by
market research service e-BuyersGuide.com.
The survey shows that 82.9 percent of online consumers plan to spend more than $100
online this holiday season -- and 32 percent are already shopping on the Web once a week.
But as the Web becomes America's shopping mall, frustration is growing. Nine percent of consumers said they were not
satisfied with online customer service.
A major source of dissatisfaction is that advertised goods were not in stock -- one in 10 orders could not be filled, the survey
said. A significant percentage of the 420 shoppers polled, 13 percent, said they would not return to the Web sites where they
made purchases.
Consumers also were annoyed by a lack of feedback from the Web sites, with 61 percent saying they wanted more
information on their purchases.
A majority of online shoppers are women, at 58 percent of the total, and women are more discerning shoppers, said Mary
Helen Gillespie, president of the Burlington, Mass.-based e-BuyersCuide.com.
''We're seeing a migration of more women to the Internet and women use the Internet for more utilitarian purposes than men,''
said Gillespie. ''They want convenience and they want to save time. They want it to work.''
As people rely more on the Internet for basic necessities, they are demanding better service, she added.
''The Internet is becoming more mainstream, and the expectations for it are becoming more mainstream,'' she said.
(Dick Satran, San Francisco office, 415-677-2500) |
