Factors affecting consumer use of the Internet for information search

Abstract

The Internet opens new opportunities for conducting pre-purchase information search. Lower search costs have been found to affect use of the Internet for this purpose. Benefits in terms of the large amounts of information available and freedom from physical contact with sales staff have also been found to affect the use of the Internet for information search positively. In this paper, low costs and benefits are put together in a model. The model was tested by means of structural equation modeling on a sample of Danish Internet users ( n = 233). The main result is that the amount of Internet use affects use of the Internet for pre-purchase information search more than perceived low search costs and perceived availability of information. Further, the test of the model did not support that pleasure in shopping and a preference for personal contact to sales staff affect the use of the Internet for information search.