Understanding consumer online shopping behaviour from the perspective of transaction costs

5.3 PROFILE OF THE SAMPLE 
The entire sample (n=962) characteristics are presented in Table 5.1. The number of 
responses gathered across the two different product types was 455 responses for purchasing 
search products (e.g., books, CDs and airline tickets), and 507 responses for buying 
experience products (e.g., shoes and clothes). In the entire sample, 49.2% of respondents 
were males, and 50.8% were females. Respondent groups aged between 18 and 25 years old 
and aged between 26 and 33 years old accounted for 23.6% and 33.2% of the sample, 
respectively, followed by the age groups of 34-41 years old at 23.1%. These three groups 
collectively contributed approximately 8% to the overall sample in terms of age. Furthermore, 
with regard to the highest level of education achieved by respondents, 7.1% were junior high 
school qualified, 26.3% senior high school qualified, 20.5% completed college, 30.5% had 
university degree, and 10.6% held Mater or PhD degree. The household income levels varied 
with 7.6% of the sample earning under ¥10,000, 37.7% earning between ¥10,000 and 
¥59,999, 25.5% earning between ¥60,000 and ¥109,999, 15.9% earning between ¥110,000 
and ¥159,999 and 13.3% having ¥160,000 or above per annum.
In order to assess the representativeness of the sample, the demographic profile of 962 
respondents was compared with the online shopper demographics (2012-2013) reported by 
iResearch (2013). The comparison showed a close match between the two samples. Thus, the 
sample (962 observations) of this study was representative of Chinese online shoppers.

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Table 5.1 Demographic Profile of the Respondents (N=962) 
 
Variable Category 
Sample 
Percentage 
Product Category 
Search Products
47.3 (455) 
Experience Products 
52.7 (507) 
Gender Male 
49.2 
Female 50.8 
Age (in Years) 
18-25 
23.6 
26-33 33.2 
34-41 23.1 
42-49 14.1 
50-57 5.3 
58-65 0.6 
>65 0.1 
Education 
Junior high school 
7.1 
Senior high school 
26.3 
College 20.5 
University 30.5 
Mater 8.3 
Ph.D. 2.3 
Other 5.1 
Annual Household Income 
< ¥10,000 
7.6 
¥10,000 - ¥59,999 
37.7 
¥60,000 - ¥109,999 
25.5 
¥110,000 - ¥159,999 
15.9 
¥160,000 - ¥209,999 
8.3 
¥210,000 - ¥259,999 
2.9 
>¥260,000 2.1