1 in 4 consumers won’t holiday shop online because of security concerns

Internet security concerns will keep 24% of U.S. online consumers from shopping online during the holiday season, according to a new survey from Forrester Custom Consumer Research on behalf of the Business Software Alliance.

Of the 1,099 U.S. online consumers surveyed, another 37% said security concerns would affect their online shopping a “great deal” or “only a small amount” while 39% said it wouldn’t affect their holiday shopping.

78% of U.S. online consumers said they are concerned about Internet security when shopping at online retail sites, and 71% said they are concerned when bidding or selling goods on auction sites.

The study also found that 84% of U.S. online consumers don’t think retailers are doing enough to protect their customers online.

Consumers’ top online security concerns were protecting their personal information from being sold to a third party (79%), identity theft (74%), unsolicited e-mail and spam (72%), credit card fraud (67%), and computer viruses (60%).

The study also found that consumers are addressing security concerns by using anti-virus software (81%), anti-spyware (67%), e-mail filtering/spam blocker software (65%) and firewalls (63%).

Another study, commissioned by privacy seal certification provider TRUSTe and conducted by research firm TNS, found that, despite expectations of a strong holiday shopping season, concerns about issues such as identity or credit card theft are still sufficient to keep many consumers from shopping online altogether, from spending a large amount online, or from shopping at lesser-known sites.

Of the 78% of American Internet users that plan to do holiday shopping on the web, 69% will limit their online purchasing because of fears associated with the misuse of their personal information, the study says. And privacy concerns will deter more than 40% of those polled from shopping at smaller online retailers.

The survey found that 22% of shoppers will not make any purchases online, and 14% plan to substantially limit their online spending. The top five factors that shoppers cite as reasons to avoid or limit online buying this season include identify theft, cited by 49%; spam resulting from online purchases, 39%; credit card information theft, 39%; spyware, 38%; and preference for the “touch and feel” of shopping in brick and mortar stores, 35%.

“More than three out of four shoppers feel more comfortable purchasing at sites that display a privacy statement or seal,” says David Stark, North America privacy officer at TNS. “The data overwhelmingly show that privacy concerns continue to hinder the growth of e-commerce.”

The survey was conducted online and represents interviews with 1,005 U.S households drawn from the TNS NFO Internet Access Panel of more than 1 million registered U.S. households.