It would go up almost 20 percent within 12 months and 44 percent over the next three years, respondents said. Purchasers of all stripes, online and offline, said that faster order time and convenience are the two top benefits of buying over the Internet. However, online buyers cited those factors more than twice as much as conventional buyers. Vendors should pay attention to that finding, Williams said. It's not all about price.
Security is the biggest concern of online buyers, according to the survey.
Online buying also tended to shift transactions from paper checks to corporate plastic. Online purchasers used charge cards 7 percent of the time, more than twice as much as conventional purchasers, who used it 3 percent of the time. About 43 percent of online transactions were handled by credit cards or purchasing cards. That's just of corporate checks, which accounted for 44 percent of online transactions. That means there is room for saving more time in online procurement, through credit cards or electronic data interchange, Williams said.