Perceived Risk and Risk Relievers Associated with Online Shopping

Even before the Internet, numerous studies of perceived risk and risk relievers in purchasing decisions populated the literature. Since the dot-com bust, studies in this area have declined, yet online shopping continues to increase. This study provides a much needed update on this literature by investigating the different perceived risks associated with online shopping across six product types as well as exploring the usefulness of risk relievers to overcome barriers to online purchasing. The study gives some longitudinal perspective to how these variables are changing over time. In this study, the three main sources of perceived risk are psychological risk, time risk and product performance risk. The key risk relievers are payment security, information about product specification and price. While much as remained the same in the past decade, changes in the way shoppers use the Internet in 2010 provide a sharp contrast to earlier studies.