n the last few decades, information technology has developed and changed

the way that people live and work. Acoording to Sanjeev et al. (2004),
information technology and information system have created a global
economy and it has been seen enormous and dramatic changes the way of
people view and use information in life. Electronic marketing appears to be
one of the beneficial tools which are influenced by information technology. n
addition, online shopping which seems to be the most efficient method for the
changing of consumer behaviour is spreading in the early of the twenty first
century. This essay is organised as follows. The second section defines what
is online shopping and the important of its in businesses. The third and fourth
sections present the advantages and disadvantages of internet purchasing
respectively. Although consumers still have the tendency to go to stores to
see and touch products, nternet shopping has been changing these
behaviours as apparent trend.

Online shopping is the term for purchasing products or services virtually
throughout websites. t seems to be that virtual marketplace is expanding
and people tend to use the nternet for various different purposes. Since
1990s, according to Kimberly (2007), "Tim Berners-Lee created the first World
Wide Web, then 1995 Amazon launched its online shopping site, and 1996
eBay appeared.
.
Enrique (2005) also stated that the exposure of technology
is a significant factor which influences consumer attitude. He also found out
that the beneficial of exposure technology is to help consumer approaching

new purchasing methods easier and therefore increasing the prospect

customers. Consequently, business and electronic commerce give a worthy
opportunity for not only consumers but also companies to satisfy their
expectations. t is undeniable that the interpretation of virtual shopping and
the behaviour of consumers is the significant subject for expanding the
segmentation on market. Scientists also made plenty of researches for his
issue.
Research was recently carried out in this area by Constantinides (2003 cited
in Cheung et al., 2003) which showed that there was probably a hundred of
related theoretical documents issued in 2001. There has been an incessant
enlargement of internet users, transaction volumes and online enterprises,
this immense research exposed remarkably. Constantinides cited in Taylor
Nelson Sofres (2002), products and services were bought online in some
nations increased around 20 per cent in 2002

while sales of American
consumers purchased by the nternet grown 55 per cent (2003 cited in
Forrester Research, 2003). Consumers tend to use the nternet for their
purchasing rather than the traditional method exposing in late of 1990s. A
specific example of this tendency is shown in James (1999) which concludes
a research about online and offline revenues of some selected companies.
Jupiter Communication forecasted that online revenue for the last 2 months of
1999 would double to $6 billion, up from $3 billion to compare with the same
period in 1998. n contrast, offline revenue is anticipated to raise about 6% in
the holiday season in 1999 to get the target $ 184 billion according to National
Retail Federation (James, 1999, p.16).

Therefore, with the development of online shopping, the growth of business

activities has changed to electronic commerce increasingly, simultaneously
with the development of online consumers and virtually companies. Armed
with information, the importance and urgency of the research about online
shopping behaviours should be examined.

Consequently, there are many advantages of buying online which have
influenced the decision of shoppers. First of all, convenience is the most
important factor which consumers prefer about online shopping. t means that
they can access the nternet and shop whenever, wherever they are working
or being at home, and save time for searching products in physical stores. n
other words, web-stores are unlimited for the storage of a huge number of
diversity kinds of commodities. Customers also can avoid traffic congestion
and parking spaces since it is simply done by searching and ordering online.
According to Rubinstein (1995, p.19) in the last few decades from 1980 to
1990 in the United States, regular transportation in America's shopping
centre has dropped by around 50% due to the intense increase of another
shopping distribution procedures such as ordering by mails, purchasing by
the nternet or direct booking virtual transactions.
n addition, online shoppers can find plenty of online information about these
kinds of items which they want to buy and can compare with others
throughout websites. For this reason, Alba et al. (July 1997)

suggested that
one of the main motivations of online shopping for customers is the
successful demonstration and the simplicity of performance products

selection. Moreover, with the help of different search engines, shoppers

accessing nternet anytime, anywhere can find a considerable number of
good deals or discounts which are updated regularly on company's websites.
Constantinides (2004, pp. 111-116) argued that "search engines provide fast
and reliable results and help customers to quick locate information on the site,
must be part of every Web-designed commercial Websites. As a result,
online shopping is likely the best technique for searching the best deals.

However, the changing of the way people consume by using the nternet also
raises various immense concerns. t is believed that security for personal
information and monetary details of online shoppers could be leaked and
used for different criminal purposes. Payment safety is still the biggest
concern which customers often face, for example losing money due to
ambiguous nternet transactions. Lawrence et al. (1998) also stated that
consumers are afraid of sending their personal monetary details to virtual
suppliers because their financial business deal could be diverted or captured
by unknown people. Therefore, reliable technology and securing payment
should be improved as the considerable problems which online companies
have to face with.
Virtual enterprises need to be aware of the needs of their potential customers.
They also have to care about the trust since this is the foundation for
purchasing by nternet. Customers who shop for products and services on
website put their trust on companies without seeing physical stores. Geden
(2000) believed that the most important reason why shoppers are afraid of

buying through the cyber market which are related to the safety of sending
monetary details, policy of websites and, the consistencies of website
technology. The evidence also suggests that the perception of risky incorrect
transaction processes and security could decrease the belief of purchasers
(Warrington et al., 2000). Therefore, the interpretation of convenience, safety
and enjoyment of using technology will impact on the trust of online shoppers.
n order to seize this popular tendency, businesses have to adjust their
marketing strategies to online shopping and associate with the conventional
marketing methods.

n conclusion, despite consumers prefer to see and touch products in
shopping centre, their attitude have changed toward the growth of online
stores. This article reports the advantages and disadvantages of online
shopping which has changed consumer behaviours. t is generally believed
that consumers are wiser with the help of overwhelming development in
information technology. Moreover, they have more choices in many areas of
products and services and their expectations are increasing day by day.
However, security issue and building the trust seem to be considered as
barriers for customers. As a result, online shopping has contributed an
important part in changing consumer behaviour.