The size of the opportunity, however, will be determined by our collective ability to address important issues such as fair access, privacy and security. We are committed to turning this potential into a new reality. People are more worried with how online vendors will use their personal information than with computer thieves stealing their credit card numbers. Those with post-graduate degrees and high incomes appear far less likely to trust their online vendors with personal information. Kicking the tires is still important.
Plastic is power.
Acquiring a credit card emerged as the most important circumstance to making Internet purchases. Five times more respondents cited credits cards than computers as the missing ingredient to shopping online. We must work to assure that economic segregation does not limit the future of electronic commerce at the retail level. These results are drawn from the Wirthlin National Quorum. The survey probes attitudes about global electronic commerce among information technology executives attending this prestigious international event.