Consumers’ Lack Of Trust Online Is Hurting eCommerce Growth

Internet users are growing more concerned with their online privacy, with a new survey conducted by Ipsos and the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) in collaboration with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the Internet Society finding that 40 percent of those polled cited a lack of trust for not shopping on the internet.

According to a press release announcing the results of the survey, the groups said the response on the part of those polls comes amid a backdrop of increased data breaches and the reported hacking of elections in several European countries. The survey results suggest that the resulting impact on trust is hindering further development of the digital economy, the groups said in the release.

Released today at the UNCTAD E-Commerce Week in Geneva, the 2017 CIGI-Ipsos Global Survey on Internet Security & Trust shows that among those worried about their privacy, the top sources of concern were cybercriminals (82 percent), internet companies (74 percent) and governments (65 percent).

“The lifeblood of the Internet is trust, and when that is damaged, the consequences for the digital economy are nearly irreparable,” said Director of CIGI’s Global Security & Politics program Fen Osler Hampson in the press release. “The results of this global survey offer a glimpse into why policymakers should be concerned, and why there is a strong link between user trust and the health of eCommerce.”

The groups found this lack of trust is most likely to hurt eCommerce platforms in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, suggesting that the potential gains of eCommerce are not spread evenly around the globe. The survey also revealed great differences in eCommerce behavior when it came to how users are purchasing goods online. For example, in China, India and Indonesia, more than 86 percent of respondents expect to make mobile payments on their smartphone in the next year, compared with fewer than 30 percent in France, Germany and Japan. What’s more, 55 percent of global respondents indicated that they prefer purchasing online goods and services made in their own country.