Internationalization of E-commerce: A Comparison of Online Shopping Preferences of Turkish and American University Students

Abstract

While international e-commerce has been as an efficient means of global transaction, it can be improved even more if it is tailored to differences in local markets in terms of economy, infrastructure and culture.  In trying to investigate the internationalization of e-commerce, we examined the online shopping preferences in the US (which has a well-developed market in e-commerce) and Turkey (which has more of a developing market with good potentials).  This empirical study indicated significant cross-national differences in online shopping preferences, particularly on attitude towards online credit card payment and online purchase involvement. It was also concluded that the culture based factors such as website design appeal is also significantly affected by nationality.

Keywords: Online shopping; e-commerce; cultural differences