A study on consumers' perceptions of the cost advantage effect in the electronic commerce – concentrated on consumers' perceptions on the Internet shopping mall

Since the Internet was applied for commercial purpose, many companies have been making use of the Internet in electronic commerce and the Internet has brought many changes in consumer and supplier behaviors. It seems that consumers and suppliers can obtain more accurate information rapidly and pay less for the same product/service than in traditional commerce. This study tries to investigate the difference in the cost factors perceived by consumers between traditional commerce and the Internet commerce. Empirical results show that there is no significant difference in comsumers' perception of cost factors between traditional commerce and the Internet commerce. Contary to general perception, a large number of consumers do not believe that the Internet commerce is generally more economical than traditional commerce. The factors where the consumers think Internet commerce has cost advantages are search cost and purchasing cost. However, consumers are understanding the benefits of the Internet commerce and are expecting that Internet commerce will bring about economic advantages in consumer markets in the near future.