A Case of South African Online Shopping Space

A Case of South African Online Shopping Space

Internet shopping has grown significantly across the globe more especially in both developed and developing-countries [3]. [4] argues that while online shopping conferred a limited segment of the market sales in South Africa, its growth will be inevitable in the near future. Developing countries such as South Africa, online scams are on the rise. Online shoppers/users find it difficult to shop online due to the perceived risks and perceptions that need to be managed. Code Shoppy These risks affect online shopping space as it presents threats that if not managed properly can be catastrophic. These risks include financial loss, products/services risk and privacy risk. South Africa e-commerce is still to over online security and mistrust issues that are currently affecting online shoppers/users. The country is also facing challenges with regarding to policy direction in dealing with these issues. This current study evaluates and analyses risk associated with online shopping in South Africa. [5] reported that South Africa is losing approximately R2.2 Billion annually to cybercrimes. A report by South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC) revealed that South Africa recorded a highest number of cyber-criminal activities and rated third country to record a highest number of cyber-crimes globally [6]. It is therefore evident that internet purchasing presents an opportunity for cyber-crimes to take place.

This research was carried outin South Africa and information was gathered through a variety of platforms were incidents and intelligence were reported and collected. Primary data was collected through an online survey method.

I. Building a Questionnaire Survey An online survey was constructed using a ten (10) closed question structured based on the research questions to collect data. These ten closed questions were developed to be able to measure the impact of perceived risk on the internet shopping and demographic characteristics. Scales used by [10], [11] and [12] are used in this study. A five (5) item scale was employed in comparison with previous studies that focused on the internet shopping and major risks as outlined above. The population of this research was formed by internet users who purchased at least one product or service online in the past 12 months. Items were assessed independently for retail, hospitality and other industries. Each risk was measured on a Likert scale of 5 points.

II. Sampling In total, 459 responses were recorded on the online questionnaire/survey platform from a population of more than 1500 responses. This study sampled 459 responses of which 43.8% of the participants were males while 56.2% were females. The initial question asked was “have you made or purchased an item online at least once in the past 12 months? Responses to this questions have two answers (Yes or No). https://codeshoppy.com/ Those who responded with yes were allowed access to the study while those who responded with no, their participation was recognized and survey closed and their participation was not recorded. Only participants who responded with a yes were granted access to complete the entire online survey.

About 19% (88 respondents) shopped at least once per month on average. The highest industries where respondents purchased products or services at least once in 12 months/1-year period was retail and hospitality industries accounting to 56% and 38% respectively while other industries only accounted 6%.

III. Respondents Representation per Province in South AfricaSouth Africa is made up of nine provinces. Figure II below shows the geographic spread of the sampled population per province in South Africa.