Payment Systems For The Internet – Consumer Requirements

This paper examines the consumer requirements for payment systems on the Internet. According to previous literature, the eight important features of payment systems from a consumer’s point of view are: security, reliability, privacy, acceptability, person-to-person (P2P), flexibility, price, and ease of use. This research focuses on identifying the importance of these features in general and in specific situations. Five hypotheses are formulated.The results of a mail questionnaire indicate that there is indeed a clear preference ranking of the eight features. This ranking shows that security, reliability and privacy are the most important features of a payment system for Internet purchases.This ranking remains stable for unknown Web shops and expensive products. Internet users value price less then non-users. Buyers value security significantly more than non-buyers, although both groups rank security first. In addition, reliability is less important for buyers than for non-buyers.The research shows that current payment systems used on the Internet (mainly credit cards) do not satisfy consumer requirements. This may be a reason for the disappointing e-retailing sales.