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The main reason why people shop on the web is convenience, ease of use, a large selection of products and of course the discounts are also important. With E-commerce going international, the large selection of products and the discounts will gain importance.

The most important reason people shop on the internet is convenience. Always available : seven days a week, twenty four hours a day. Even though low pieces definitely do attract customers, pricing is only the third-most important issue for shoppers of the web. Most of the answers were related to making it easy, pleasant, and efficient to buy. Most important reasons why people shop on the web:

' Easy to place an order
' Large selection of products
' Cheaper prices
' Faster service and delivery
' Detailed and clear information about what is being offered
' No sales pressure
' Easy payment procedures

On the web, people are very goal-driven and care more about the specific product they are buying 'now' and less about issues like the characteristics of the company that is supplying the product. People who want to buy a product look for information about that product, price comparisons and discounts.

Only 5% of the time shoppers visit E-commerce sites they actually buy something. It is difficult converting even a motivated shopper into a buyer. People visit a site mainly to look for product information or general information. Remember, these are people who buy online. And yet only 5% of their visits to E-commerce sites are to buy.

' 5%of the visitors are interested in buying something during their current visit.
' About half the people who have an interest in buying attempt to do so during their current visit
' 56% of the people who attempt to buy are capable of struggling through the website's design to a successful completion of their purchase.

The result of combining these three numbers is a conversion rate of about 1%, which is indeed a commonly observed number. The average outcome is that people do not buy. Most of the time, users want to research products , discounts or find other specific information. The sort-term focus should be on changing shoppers to buyers and on making it possible for users to complete the transaction once they have decided to buy.

One of the good plans to make this happen is a buyers organization. Discount Shopping Mall brings consumers and retailers together to benefit from each other. Individual consumers are joined together to form a vast buyer's cooperative, thereby gaining tremendous consolidated buying power so that the members of the Mall may purchase products and services at the lowest possible cost. The Discount Shopping Mall has no big and expensive advertising. Just by word of mouth. People is what builds this organization. It binds the E-commerce and the members together and is an organization by and for the people.

Much shopping is obviously local, but there is a good deal of international shopping going on. In particular, American websites are doing business in Europe. It is interesting to note that the American websites sells about twice as much as European websites. A clear indication of the need to improve European E-commerce. But Europe will improve and become more of a competitor in the future. The next step will be global. The Discount Shopping Mall mentioned before is already worldwide and gives discount to their members at over 5000 companies worldwide. That will be the future of shopping on the web.