Run! It's the Internet! Global consumers may be too scared to buy from your site.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
If you think e-commerce took the world by storm, you'rewrong: the United States accounted for three-fourths of all onlinesales in 2000. So why hasn't the rest of the globe jumped onthe e-tail train? They're afraid they might get hurt.
And according to an October 2000 Research International Groupsurvey of Internet users from 38 countries, fears of e-commerceextend beyond stolen credit card numbers. In South America, forexample, consumers fear divulging personal details will increasethe chance they'll be kidnapped.
The solution is to not ask for excess information. "When Iwalk into a store, you don't ask me [those things]," saysDavid Walker, Research International's director for new media."Why should I have to give you this information before I canbuy [online]?"
Then there's the credit card thing. Whether it's fear ofdisclosing too many details or fear of debt-as in Germany, whereonly 10 to 20 percent of adults have credit cards-global e-commerceconsumers prefer alternative payment methods like cash on delivery,payment through their service providers or payment ininstallments.
"[Global consumers] are less risk-taking, and thetechnology is less important in people's lives," saysWalker. "If you want to do e-commerce outside the UnitedStates, the United Kingdom or Japan, you have to offer analternative to credit cards, or you're going to miss wholeparts of the population."
