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to around $133 billions in 2005 (Grau, 2006). Similar figures were also predicted by Jupiter Research,
which estimated an increase from $85.7 billion in 2003 to $132.2 billion in 2005 (Naraine, 2003). This
growth is usually attributed to the increasing number of online users over the 2000-2005 period and
this is expected to continue (Naraine, 2003). Although for the 2005-2009 period the growth is expected
at a lower rate of 18.6 %, the expansion of EC can still be considered as strong (Grau, 2006).
Though the expansion and development in EC is encouraging, this growth may not be achieved if
the prevailing obstacles for a greater acceptance of EC as a transaction medium are not addressed care-
fully. Among the obstacles that hinder the development of EC, consumers lack of trust has often been
identified as one of the main reasons (Luo, 2002; Merrilees & Fry, 2003; Corbitt, Thanasankit, & Yi,
2003; Cazier, Shao & Louis, 2006) and other factors include: consumer dissatisfaction of the unstable
EC systems, a low level of personal data security, disappointments with purchases such as non-delivery
of goods, hidden charges, difficulties in getting a refund, unwillingness to provide personal details and
fraud (Han & Noh, 1999; Lewicki & Bunker, 1996; Matthew & Turban, 2001; Mayer, Davis, & Schoor-
man, 1995; Patton and Jøsang, 2004; Shapiro, Sheppard, & Cheraskin, 1992). In B2C EC, the concept
of trust is crucial because it affects a number of factors essential to online transactions.
Kasiran and Meziane (2002) developed a trust model for B2C EC that is based on the kind of in-
formation customers are looking for on a vendor's Website to help them decide whether to engage in
a transaction or not. The model identified four major factors that need to be present on a merchant's
Website to increase customers' trust when shopping online. These factors are: existence, affiliation,
policy, and fulfilment. The information customers need to know to satisfy the existence factor include
physical existence, such as the merchant's telephone number, fax number, postal address, mandatory
registration, and peoples' existence. These are known as variables. The affiliation factor looks at third-
party endorsement, membership and portal and the policy factor looks at information with regards to
customer satisfaction policy, privacy statement, and warranty policy. Finally, the fulfilment factor looks
at delivery methods, methods of payment and the community comments. Hence, a total of 12 variables
have been identified for the trust model as summarized in Figure 1.
Given the large amount of information the model requires, an information extraction system has
been developed to automate the data collection process (Meziane & Kasiran, 2003, Meziane & Kasiran,
Figure 1. The trust model (Kasiran & Meziane, 2002)
Physical Existence
People Existence
Third Party
Endorsement
Membership
Mandatory Registration
Portal
EXISTENCE
AFFILIATION
MERCHANT TRUST
Customer Satisfaction
Policy
Delivery
POLICY
FULFILMENT
Privacy Statement
Payment
Warranty Policy
Community Comment
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