A01 chaf6542 06 se fm indd

  8 

Downloads

● 

Download music

● 

Listen to music

● 

Watch online videos.

  9 

Interaction

● 

Connect with my friends

● 

Communicate with others

● 

Instant message others I know.

 10 

Search

● 

Get answers to specific questions

● 

Find information I can trust.

 11 

Exploration

● 

Find interesting web pages

● 

Explore new sites

● 

Surf for fun.

M04_CHAF6542_06_SE_C04.indd   135

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Part 1  Introduction

 12 

News

● 

Read about current events and news

● 

Read entertainment news.

Web advertisers and site owners can use this framework to review the suitability of facilities 

to meet these needs.

Purchased online

Increasing numbers of consumers are now purchasing online. Figure 4.2 shows that initially 

Internet users may restrict themselves to searching for information or using email. As their 

confidence grows, their use of the Internet for purchase is likely to increase. This is often 

coupled with the use of broadband. For this reason, there is still good potential for e-retail 

sales, even if the percentage of the population with access to the Internet plateaus.

You can see from Figure 4.5 that Internet users take longer to become confident to pur-

chase more expensive and more complex products. Figure 4.5 shows that the result is a dra-

matic difference in online consumer behaviour for products according to their price and 

complexity. For some products such as travel and cinema and theatre tickets, the majority 

buy online, while fewer people purchase clothes and insurance online. However, there is now 

less difference between the products than there was two or three years ago. Figure 4.5 suggests 

that the way companies should use digital technologies for marketing their products will vary 

markedly according to product type. In some, such as cars and complex financial products 

such as mortgages, the main role of online marketing will be to support research, while for 

standardised products there will be a dual role in supporting research and enabling purchase.

Bart et al. (2005) have developed a widely referenced conceptual model that links website 

and consumer characteristics, online trust, and behaviour. We have summarised the eight 

main drivers of trust from the study in Figure 9.5 in the section on buyer behaviour.