Topic Sentence: The effects of online shopping to the security of the consumers.

Online purchasing is becoming more popular by the day. Shopping online has several

advantages, including time savings, accessibility from anywhere, ease, availability 24 hours a

day, a wide range of items, and numerous alternatives for comparing products and brands. Aside

from the benefits of online buying, customers experience a variety of perceived risk

considerations and psychological variables when they purchase online. Financial loss, product

performance risk, delivery risk, and psychological issues like trust and security and website

design may all be perceived risks. Consumers' attitudes toward internet purchasing are also

influenced by perceived risk and psychological variables (Shahzad, 2015).

Online made life more contemporary, comfortable, and enjoyable, and it progressively

transformed people's consumption patterns. Searching for relevant items and engaging online

might result in considerable cost savings for customers. Today's client is uninterested in internet

buying. Instead, shoppers are concerned about the hazards of internet buying (Zhang et al.,

2012). Online buying is rapidly expanding, and there is a good prognosis for the future of online

shopping and scientific signs predicting rapid growth in Internet purchasing. Despite the benefits

of internet shopping, there are unfavorable attitudes regarding purchasing online due to risk

concerns.

The first evidence is that despite the considerable development and optimistic forecast for

future growth of online shopping, negative features are increasingly connected with this

alternative buying technique. Consumers, for example, are concerned that the Internet currently
provides very little protection when it comes to using credit cards and divulging personal

information (Masuod, 2013). The impression that a particular amount of money would be lost or

required to make a product perform correctly refers to financial risk. It is described as a possible

net loss of money. It includes customers' feelings of apprehension about using online credit

cards, which shows a critical barrier to online purchases (Masuod, 2013). Consumer behavior is

observed to be influenced by financial risk in a negligible and negative way. Furthermore, it is

discovered that the danger of non-delivery has a large and unfavorable impact on online purchase

behavior (Tham, Dastane, Johari, & Ismail, 2019).

Security is an essential element that online purchasers take seriously. Security and

privacy problems are critical in building confidence. Because online purchasing frequently

entails payment by debit or credit card, customers may look for information on the store as a sort

of protection. Consumers' propensity to visit online retailers and make purchases is connected to

their trust in personal information and credit card payments. Consumers are more likely to

purchase a product from a seller they trust or an acquainted brand. Confidence is one of the most

critical factors influencing Internet shops' success or failure. Consumers are sometimes

discouraged from shopping online because they are scared that sellers who exploit their personal

information, mainly their credit card information, may be duped (Nebojša et al., 2019).

In addition, Kumar and Dange (2014) performed a study to analyze multiple factors of

the perceived risk that impact the consumer's online buying behavior. The study's findings

demonstrated that online shopping perceived danger in terms of financial, time, social, and

security risk, as they affected more online consumers' attitudes about online buying. Financial
and security risks are the same two online purchasing risk issues that have afflicted non-online

customers. Furthermore, their research discovered two additional hurdles for nonbuyers:

psychological danger and physical risk.

Another recent study conducted by Baber et al. (2014) employed a Technology

Acceptance Model to analyze the many aspects that impact customers' propensity to purchase

online. This study looked at the effects of usefulness, simplicity of use, financial risk, and

attitude toward internet buying. The findings reveal that financial risk negatively influences

consumers' attitudes about online purchasing, with the rationale being a consumer's fear of

money loss and security concerns around internet shopping. Among these financial risks, it

negatively impacts consumers' propensity to shop online. Customers were concerned about

losing money when purchasing on the internet. According to the study's findings, high perceived

risk resulted in a lower desire to purchase online in the future. Still, low perceived risk resulted

in a more significant intention to buy online.

In a study by Niranjanamurthy and Dharmendra (2013), security is a significant issue and

challenge for internet customers. It is one of the essential variables in determining whether or not

an internet business will thrive. Another critical issue influencing online shoppers is security.

Many internet users avoid online shopping because they do not trust the website's security due to

credit card theft, privacy concerns, non-delivery risk, buy service, and hackers who generally

develop a dummy website. That looks identical to the online shopping website.Lack of customer

confidence due to the website's lack of security and privacy will become one of the downsides of

online shopping, preventing its growth. Online shops should be aware of and increase their
website security for online transactions and provide consumers with a privacy policy to improve

consumer confidentiality, contentment, and buy intent.

Another reason is consumers can learn about the value of products through website

features such as product information quality, transaction and delivery capability, and efficient

service quality. However, if no information security mechanisms exist, purchase intention will

be adversely affected. The product delivery risk will reduce if the consumer purchases the goods

from a trustworthy online merchant. Hence, buyers look for strategies to contact responsible

online merchants to lower the product delivery risk. When purchasing from a reputable online

merchant, the customer feels protected from unfavorable product delivery issues (Hong, 2015).

Adnan (2014) stated that product delivery has a detrimental influence on customer purchasing

behavior. He also proposed that online merchants give insurance coverage to online consumers

if an item is not delivered to the consumer on time.

Online purchases produce more packaging waste, and online items come from different

distribution centers. Both factors result in higher greenhouse gas emissions per item

(Shahmohammadi, 2020). Moreover, environmental effects happen and increase daily due to

online deliveries. With the number of online shoppers increasing every year, e-commerce has

become crucial. According to research, nearly 2 billion people made online transactions in

2020. In addition, rather than driving to a store, a consumer can browse various things on an

internet site from the comfort of their own home. Cars are used for 88 percent of grocery

shopping in the United States, raising concerns about in-store shopping. This, in turn, adds to

the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere (US EPA, 2016). In addition, product
delivery, perceived security, information quality, and product diversity all influence online

shopper happiness. Customers' loyalty to web stores is determined by customer satisfaction and

information quality (Mofokeng, 2021).

According to a new report published Tuesday in Environmental Science & Technology, a

peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Chemical Society, the more eco-

conscious way to shop is to go to a physical store rather than making purchases online from

companies that do not have physical stores. Shopping in brick-and-mortar stores for frequently

purchased commodities like toilet paper, shampoo, and toothpaste produces fewer greenhouse

gas emissions than ordering the same items from a company exclusively selling online (News18,

2020). Express shipping is important in today's economy, but it also raises concerns about post-

consumer packaging waste. With the emergence of the internet, a variety of areas and business

sectors have seen significant changes. The retail sector, in particular, has seen significant

expansion of e-commerce in the recent decade. This has also had a big impact on our buying

experiences, influencing everything from where, how, and how much we purchase. As e-

commerce transactions continue to grow, more trucks than ever before are entering cities,

bringing with them the negative externalities of increased congestion and pollution (Jaller &

Pahwa, 2020).

Lastly, online shopping only has limited information about the product, and the consumer

doesn't have a chance to try the product. Consumers have limited information about products and

do not have tangible products before buying. Hence, the risk of purchasing the products is high

in consumers’ minds, and the consequences may fail to meet the expected standards (Hong &
Cha, 2013). Shopping convenience, product selection, and ease of purchase have a favorable

impact on purchasing behavior, but financial risk, product risk, and security risk have a negative

impact. However, none of these connections was shown to be particularly robust. Consumers

perceive certain advantages and hazards while shopping online (Anwar, Nawaz, Ullah, &

Ahmad, 2021). Consumer purchase intention toward an online merchant is affected by online

environment signals, and whether this impact is mediated by customer trust and perceived risk

(Tham, Dastane, Johari, & Ismail, 2019).

One perceived hazard that consumers would encounter while shopping online is product

risk. Typically, if a product's performance falls short of the required standard, the product's

performance is labeled as bad (Yeniceri and Akin, 2013). According to Aishah et al. (2015),

traditional purchasing allows consumers to appraise products firsthand. On the other hand,

consumers have a more challenging time judging things when they shop online because they

cannot touch and feel them. Product delivery, perceived security, information quality, and

product diversity all influence online shopper happiness. Customers' loyalty to web stores is

determined by customer satisfaction and information quality.

Because of this, internet shopping platforms are unable to match customer demand. It is

impossible to determine their preferences based on the minimal information supplied. Similarly,

consumers are unable to trust the advertised goods owing to a lack of information. Most

individuals do not buy online since they cannot personally check the goods, test it, or obtain

product information (Kaur et al. 2015). Wai discovered a favorable relationship between product

risk and customer internet buying behavior in this manner (Wai et al. 2019). Bhatti, on the other
hand, employed Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM)

approaches to demonstrate that product risk has no meaningful relationship. with regard to

internet purchasing (Bhatti et al. 2018).

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