Many consumers are sceptical when it comes to shopping on the internet. In contrast to shopping in the real world purchasers have difficulties in judging whether they can trust sellers. Therefore, it is not surprising that a survey by the GfK association for research of consumer habits revealed that to 63.3% of internet buyers a seal of quality is “important” or „very important“ for shopping online.
In the course of this study the GfK market researchers interviewed more than 1000 internet users in May 2008. These were selected such as to receive representative findings. The study was commissioned by Trusted Shops which is a certifying body having already certified more than 2700 online shops and which claims being the market leader in this respect in Germany and Europe. According to the study, the quality sign of this certifying company is know by 49.6% of all interviewees.
A closer look at the survey’s results revealed additional interesting findings: men attach more importance to quality seals than women. While just 59.2% of women consider these seals to be important or very important when shopping online, among men 67.1% think so. Age does also play a role. For those younger than 40 years of age only 59.1% think that these seals are important while among those aged 60 and above this percentage amounts to 72.8%.
According to the study, quality seals are in particular important in cases where consumers are doubtful as to the reliability of shops (69.2%) or when they do not know them (66.1%) or when the online shop is based abroad (55.4%). 47.7% of online shoppers become also suspicious if goods are offered at very low prices.
64.7% of online shoppers have reservations to pay in advance an online-shop which does not provide a quality seal. Correspondingly, 46.7% would like to benefit from a money-back-guarantee which is ensured by shops which have a quality seal. 