Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Internet services that high school students use most frequently with PCs are
search engines, video sites, and blogs. Many of them also access search engines,
blogs, and community sites with mobile phones. Many university students access
search engines and video sites by using a PC, and search engines, blogs, and social
networking services (SNS) using a mobile phone. As video sites require higher
communication bandwidth, the PC is the best access medium. Both high school and
university students' primary purposes for using the Internet are receiving, sending,
and searching for information. Typical services are blogs, community sites, and
SNS. This generation is nearly “digital native” and will become the largest online
consumer market.
11.4 Differences in Consumer Behavior and Perceptions
11.4.1 Experience of Online Shops
Respondents' experience of using online shops (excluding Internet auctions) is
shown in Table
11.4
. Forty-nine percent of the high school students and 76 % of
university students have used online shops. Other research shows that 82.1 % of
people under-30 years (excluding students) have used online shops (IRC
2010
).
Compared to that research, we found slightly lower student usage of online shops.
University students use online shops more than high school students. The difference
is statistically significant at 1 % level. Students' low budgets constitute a strong
reason for their use of online shops, suggesting that online shops can potentially
become a major channel for purchases of goods and services by students.
Most student users of online shops access them via PCs, although most students
generally access the Internet using both mobile phones and PCs. Only 16 % of each
category of students uses mobile phones for purchasing at online shops. This
finding may result from their need of a wide screen and functional usability when
shopping online, which explains why PCs are students' primary online shopping
device. Their non-use of public transportation may also limit their use of mobile
phones outside of their house or school. The spread of smartphones, however, may
spur a shift to more mobile phone use for online shopping.
Categories of goods that students have already purchased and expect to purchase
from online shops are shown in Tables
11.5
and
11.6
. Significant differences
between number of high school students and university students are also indicated
in the table. Both categories of students purchased and expected to purchase topics,
CDs, and clothes. University students more often purchased books, CDs, DVDs,
clothes, accessories, bags, shoes, watches, and cosmetics at online shops than high
school students. These differences are statistically significant at 5 % level. The
goods that university students have previously purchased are similar to those that
they hope to purchase. High school students, however, hope to purchase more of the
