Wed, February 27, 2008
A few weeks ago, I received a letter from Sears saying I was rejected for their store credit card. Problem was, I never applied for one. Well, sure enough, I just found out that I have been a victim of identity theft. Diamond Hut, JC Penny, Radio Shack – you name it, my identity was on a shopping spree in NJ over the past few months. How they stole my identity is still being investigated but it goes to a very central issue in the online space right now – e-commerce security.
While we have seen online ticket buying skyrocket to over 70% in some markets, there is still a large portion of tickets sold through offline channels. Some buy offline to avoid online fees, some simply prefer to order by phone to talk with a representative but I believe there is still a significant portion of the population not buying tickets online due to fear of identity theft (or simply the entire e-commerce process).
The data we’ve read at our offices, shows that higher-income audiences tend to not be as concerned about online theft than lower-income families but overall, I think it’s fair to say that the data shows it’s still a major issue for all groups.
Consider these findings from a study entitled, “Online Shopping: Internet users like the convenience but worry about the security of their financial information.”:
Two-thirds (66%) of online Americans have at one time bought a product online. If online Americans did not have such high levels of concern about sending personal or credit card information over the internet, the report estimates that the share of internet users buying products online could be as much as 3 percentage points higher, or 69%.
The report also finds that low-income Americans are most likely to express concerns about providing credit card or personal information online and least likely to see possible time-savings or convenience in e-commerce. Among internet users in homes with annual incomes below $25,000 annually, 44% strongly agree that they don’t like sending credit card information online, twice the share (22%) that strongly agrees that online shopping is convenient For upper-income Americans (those in households with annual incomes above $100,000), the numbers reverse, with one quarter (25%) saying they strongly agree that they don’t like sending credit card information over the internet for online transactions, while 36% strongly agree that online shopping is convenient.
Why should we care? I think this illustrates a key point to evaluating your online presence – that there are a large portion of people researching online and purchasing offline. You need to look beyond just using the Internet as a vehicle to immediately sell tickets and begin actively trying to engage, support and educate consumers who may be interested in researching online but wanting to purchase their tickets in an offline channel. I would venture to say that this market is much larger than you would probably expect.
Read the research here.
Signup 
About 
Archives
