Turkish Consumer Participation in E-Commerce

This study investigates socio-economic factors affecting participation by Turkish individuals in electronic commerce. By exploiting a nationally representative household survey data from Turkey, non-linear probability models are employed to quantify the factors influencing participation decision of consumers in e-commerce. Empirical findings indicate that income level, education level, being employed, variety of internet use, technology skills and trust in internet have positive relationships with both use of e-commerce and amount of online expenditures. While relatively younger and older individuals are less likely to engage in e-commerce activities, middle-aged individuals are more likely to participate. Although females are more likely to participate in e-commerce, they tend to spend less in their e-commerce activities compared to males. Research findings imply that policies to encourage use of technology and online marketing strategies of businesses should employ different approaches which specially target sub-groups of society with respect socio-demographics.