Embracing Technology

Do you shop online? Since the internet / dot com boom, many business has gone online due to the low startup costs and easy maintenance.

But the most important question in everyone’s mind is – What is the pickup rate? How receptive are people towards shopping online?

If there is any survey, it is very valuable for online business to know their target market or public acceptance of online shopping.

I am not even sure if there’s any for Malaysia’s market, and I couldn’t find much online.

However, this is post is my participation to a survey or marketing data collection from neowave.com.my’s blog Sell More.

Neowave is a company with passion for e-commerce providing SEO Ecommerce Solution.

By participating in this, I hope to get some Google goodies on the way and hopefully some comments from visitors to this page as well.

Here goes the questions:

1) Do you shop online? If so, why? If not, why not?

Yes, I do. But it took me quite some time to get over my own mental barriers and confidently shop via the internet. I have never shopped on TV or phone, but internet? Yes, internet. I’m an IT guy what, how can I tell people I do not shop online?

I do window shop regularly, both offline and online. Who has not?

So my answer to shopping online is actually a transaction made with payment in exchange for a product or services.

However, I found that my online shopping preference is very limited to the “limited editions” or something you cannot buy offline from “Brick and Mortar” business (Reason 1).

Most of it includes service packages where I can get a real good discount or the single most important thing to me, convenience. After all, that is what internet is for, CONVENIENCE (Reason 2).

Some of the stuff I shop online:

- Web hosting packages

- AirAsia tickets

- Travel packages

- Concert tickets

- Hotel room

- Malaysia Philharmonic Orchestra tickets

- Flowers

- Shares

Some of the things I window shopped online (no payment), and buy offline:

- Mobile phones

- Laptop, camera and other IT gadgets

It has to be a good bargain to get it online than off-the-shelf (Reason 3). If I’m paying something before I get the product, it has to be that I have more options and better deals.

And I would rather buy from a website that sort of built up a reputation (Reason 4).

2) What are your preferred payment methods for online shopping? (credit card, debit card, bank card, online banking, cheque etc) List 3 in accordance to preferences.

Listing from most preferred to least.

a) Online banking

This is probably due to the fact that I’ve developed two local internet banking sites and maintained three. If a merchant is tied up to a bank, I am more confident on it. Banking is no simple business and security policies are of prime importance. Banks and financial institutions are regulated by Bank Negara and are meant to cover the safe-keeping of consumers’ money.

Each transaction you made is tracked and will be kept for at least seven years.

One thing to note though, a tool is only as secure as how you know to use it. Read more from my Internet Banking posts.

b) Credit Card

Those plastic cards are miracle on Earth. Ironically, most of my online payments are done with credit cards although it is not my top preference. Notice the question is by preference and not method used most.

This is because most online shopping sites accept credit cards but the merchants are located in US or other sites.

Besides, credit card frauds are no strangers.

However, I do like the times when my bank calls me on some online shopping transactions I made. I think that they categorized some as potential frauds and politely made a check. It is a plus point there.

c) All others alternatives

Deposit in ATM machine then fax bank-in slips, cheque sending etc.

It defeats the purpose of convenience. I might as well forget about it and shop elsewhere.

Same as parking my car, go to the ticketing machine, grab a ticket, display on my windscreen.

Then again, it is not I have not done so before. The product or services will have to justify the inconveniences the buyers have to bear. When I do not have a credit card or online banking account before this, it is the ONLY method I have.

3) Do you use search for product pricing and information before you buy instore? which search engine you use the most?

Of course I do. You mean there is somebody out there who would simply write a cheque with the amount field empty to purchase something? No expectation on product features and doesn’t care whatever costs it take?

I simply LOVE this type of questionnaires, there’s no A/B/C or Yes/No, and I can spill whatever I want on the questions posed before I provide my answer.

First part of question waived. Search engine I use most: GOOGLE, since early 2002, I think.

The other search engines are just not as good in indexing or matching search keywords.

About Google, need to say more?

So, how do you do your online shopping?