The Advantages and Risks of Online Shopping Essay

The Information revolution is changing our daily lives. With the rapid development of computer and internet, online commerce become quite common and plays an important role in the modern world. The online business has booming development in these few years. US online retail sales raised an average of 11% in the first three months of 2009 (â€Å"US Online Sales Up,† 2009). The growth of online sales may due to the growing number of consumers who shop online. In the case of Asia, survey reported 77.6% of Internet users have online shopping experiences in 2003 (as cited in To, Liao Lin, 2007). Online shopping is very different from traditional shopping. Consumers cannot touch and check the product before purchasing it, which means they are at†¦show more content†¦While in the internet, consumers can use online tools to compare product price and features. It takes less effort for consumers to make better decisions. Another advantage of online shopping is it is enjoyable and fun. According to Wolfinbarger (n. d.), many consumers find enjoyment through shopping online. They even like to visit and browse the shopping websites although they do not have something want to buy in mind. Some advantages of online shopping are presented. Those advantages may relate to consumer’s motivation to shop online. The starting point of motivation is needs. Needs can be classified into the utilitarian needs and the hedonic needs. The utilitarian needs are in the practical side. For example, the needs of basic foods and cloths are utilitarian needs. They are the survival need. Hedonic needs can be regard as on the opposite side of utilitarian needs. They are in the pleasurable side. The needs of purchasing of fashion wear, cosmetics and expensive sport car can all be classified into hedonic needs. Shopping motivation in utilitarian dimension is mission critical, rational and goal oriented while in hedonic dimension is for enjoyment and happiness. 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