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21 Sep 2000
Dear Dr. Ecommerce:
Are there any key differences in the attitudes or cultures in Europe towards e-commerce?
Thanks
Dan
Dear Dan:
I've seen this topic discussed for days on end in an e-commerce discussion forum and clearly you could write a book on the topic.
But, to answer your question: yes, there are many cultural differences related to e-commerce. One of the most important is the extent of take up. In Nordic countries like Sweden and Finland, some 40-50% of the adult population is online and a large portion of them are doing e-commerce. In the Southern countries, take up has been much slower and only around 10-20% are online (depending on the country and survey). Not surprisingly, there has also been correspondingly lower take up of online purchasing in Southern Europe. Arguably, this is because Southern Europeans would prefer to be outside enjoying the sun rather than be inside hunched over a computer. Possibly language is also an issue. In the Nordic countries, English is widely spoken and English has been the main language of e-commerce (although, thankfully, this is changing and e-commerce is becoming more multilingual daily).
The other day, I was at a Conference where Boxman, who sell music online, pointed out that there are vast country to country differences in the kinds of music people buy. They have reflected this by featuring a different collection of CDs in each country homepage on their web site.
Amazon and BOL are establishing separate operations in various countries where they operate. Doubtless this is partly to address cultural differences in their marketing and selling.
All the best,
Dr.Ecommerce
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