E-commerce is becoming more and more popular as a way to shop and a while ago, we questioned over 2,000 UK consumers about their attitude to e-commerce: whether they’ve tried it, what they thought; and their pet hates. Some of the results are surprising, in particular the fact that the overwhelming majority seem to be waiting for a “sign”.
- 94% of web shoppers want web sites to clearly display the logos of the payment schemes that they accept. Poor displays of logos, research suggests, has led to some shoppers being unable to pay for goods in the way that they want.

- More than a quarter of all UK adults had tried Internet shopping and, of these, 89% said it was easy.

- More than one in ten shoppers (11%) had selected their purchases and entered all of their details into a site to make a purchase, only to then find that their preferred payment method wasn’t accepted.

- For many under 18s, Solo is the only way to pay for goods over the Internet and companies that do not accept this payment method are missing out on retail sales.

- 16 – 24 year olds had twice the problem getting their payments accepted over the web than over 55s.

- Solo’s Head of Marketing and Strategy Nigel Turner said: “Like any retailer, it makes basic economic sense for e-tailers to accept all of the most popular forms of payment, and for them to advertise the fact that they do - by using their home page as a shop window.

“Just as we would resent reaching a shop till, only to find that our plastic card isn’t accepted, so will surfers find this frustrating”, Turner continues. “We would urge e-tailers to clearly signpost which card schemes they accept, and to ensure that leading schemes such as Solo are amongst them.”

- There are currently 6.7 million Solo cards in issue in the UK. The cards are already accepted in 875,000 outlets nationwide, including e-commerce sites.

Retailers wishing to sign-up for Solo should go to the bank that currently handles their card transactions or contact any of the following:

* TNSi Global e-Commerce Report March – May 2001

The research was carried out by Taylor Nelson Sofres in two waves 26th-28th June and 29th June to 1st July 2001. 2012 adults were questioned in total, with the sample weighted to represent the adult population of Great Britain aged 16+.

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