Most online shoppers don’t even know about the e-retail carnage, PWC says

Many online shoppers are unaware of the carnage that has taken place among dot-com retailers and those that are aware don’t care, says a new survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers E-Retail Intelligence System.

Only 4 out of 10 online shoppers are aware of an online shopping site that has gone out of business, the survey says. Among online shoppers aware of a shopping site that has gone out of business, less than half report ever transacting with a company that has closed.

Being aware of a shopping site that has gone out of business has absolutely no impact on online shopping or purchasing behavior for about half of online shoppers aware of a departed e-retailer, PWC says. Given that only just over 40% of online shoppers are aware of any e-retailers going out of business, this translates into just one-in-five online shoppers modifying their online behavior as a result of the dot.com shakeout, PWC says. “For remaining e-retailers, the message is clear. The ghosts of the past are not haunting the online shoppers of the present,” sayss Mary Brett Whitfield, Columbus, Ohio-based director of the E-Retail Intelligence System.

The survey was fielded from May 31 to June 5 and yielded a sample of 685 Internet users.