A01 chaf6542 06 se fm indd

Part 1  Introduction

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Value proposition. Customers need to perceive a need to be online – what can the 

Internet offer that other media cannot? Examples of value propositions include access to 

more supplier information and possibly lower prices.

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Ease of use. This includes the ease of first connecting to the Internet using the ISP and the 

ease of using the web once connected.

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Security. While this is only, in reality, a problem for those who shop online, the percep-

tion may be that if you are connected to the Internet then your personal details may not be 

secure. It will probably take many years for this fear to diminish.

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Fear of the unknown. Many will simply have a general fear of the technology and the new 

media, which is not surprising since much of the news about the Internet will concern 

pornography, fraud and privacy infringements.

The extent of adoption also varies significantly by country – see, for example, EuroStat (2012) 

where the percentage of individuals who use the Internet daily varies between 30% and 80% 

across the EU27, showing the value in targeting countries for online investment carefully.

These barriers to access and usage of the web still remain, and governments are concerned 

about ‘social exclusion’ where some sectors of society have lower levels of access and oppor-

tunity. As expected, there is a strong correlation between Internet use and PC penetration. 

Countries such as Sweden have encouraged home use most actively through government 

initiatives. This appears to exert more influence than reduction in cost of access.