One of the big challenges that this survey throws up is the cost for businesses. If users don’t want to shop online then they are going to want to do it in a store. As retailers have been trying to move a lot of their business online to cut costs, this is going to have a severe impact on their relationship with customers and their bottom line.
We were given access to the underlying data from the survey to check the statements made in the press release and to get a better understanding of what the survey produced. The breadth of questions was fairly balanced and of the 551 people surveyed the data shows a very high response rate.
Stuart Reed, Senior Director of Global Product Marketing at NTT Com Security, says: “…Given the number and scale of data breaches this year, it’s no surprise that people are concerned. But opportunities like Black Friday come round once a year and retailers should be capitalising on a potential online shopping bonanza.”
Interesting patterns of online behaviour
The survey asked what people did regularly online. Interestingly while things like using a social network on a daily bases was predictably top, reading a newspaper and accessing bank accounts were also regular daily occurrences.
The weekly figures were also interesting. Over 40% check their bank accounts weekly compared to under a quarter who do their online food shop. Roughly as many do their newspaper catch-up weekly which suggests that the bed covered in Sunday morning newspapers is giving way to a coffee and an iPad.
Online bill paying is definitely on the increase with over 46% of people doing this monthly. With faster payment systems in place from banks it means that people are moving away from cheques and the post to a more reliable service.
Looking at what people don’t do is just as interesting as what they do online. 83% don’t use dating sites, 64% don’t shop around and take out loans while 50% wouldn’t manage their financial investments online. What makes these interesting is that recent news stories around online dating seem to imply large numbers of people are using it just not the 541 who answered the question.
One of the big growth areas in the last few years has been the expansion of the online comparison sites into things like loans. With over 64% not willing to trust an online system to apply for a loan it means there is still a need for local bank branches. Where they are not using bank branches it does raise a question, not answered by the survey data, as to whether it is more secure to apply for a loan via the mail or online. Mail fraud has always been around but it is hard to get accurate numbers around it.
