Embracing e-commerce: A glimpse into the future of on-line shopping in saudi arabia

The growing use of the Internet in Saudi Arabia provides a developing prospect for E-shopping. Despite the overwhelming potential of online shopping in this country, there remains a lack of knowledge and potential impact on consumers regarding this matter. This paper, part of a larger study of 144 Saudi Internet Users aims to establish a preliminary evaluation and understanding of the characteristics of online shopping. It explores their information seeking patterns as well as their motivations and concerns for this rapidly evolving technology. Consumers still lack a trust in the vendor's websites through concerns related to security, privacy when dealing with online vendors, the Saudi Internet Network and the dominant English language as a medium of interaction. Whilst motivating factors for the Saudi public to utilise online shopping have shown to be convenience, unavailability of offline products/services and price, we present and discuss a range of findings and recommend changes that will represent a paradigm shift that is required to achieve a broader acceptance and diffusion of online shopping in Saudi Arabia.