Barriers to E-Commerce Adoption Consumers’ Perspectives from a Developing Country.docVIP

iBusiness, 2013, 5, 65-71 65 /10.4236/ib.2013.52008 Published Online June 2013 (/journal/ib) Barriers to E-Commerce Adoption: Consumers’ Perspectives from a Developing Country Moudi Almousa Department of Food Science and Nutrition, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Email: almousa@.sa Received March 3 , 2013; revised May 1 , 2013; accepted June 1 , 2013 rd st st Copyright ? 2013 Moudi Almousa. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ABSTRACT Although e-commerce has become a familiar retail channel for businesses in developed countries, it is still considered an innovation in developing countries. Specifically, electronic commerce (e-commerce) in Saudi Arabia is still in the first stage despite its advance and fast growth in ICT marketplace, the highest increase in Internet penetration in the world, strong retail sector, and young population. This research study aims to identify tangible barriers influencing consumers in Saudi Arabia to adopt e-commerce. An exploratory research design is used to shed light on the tangible barriers facing Saudi consumers when shopping online. This research study identified key tangible barriers and their relative importance for both e-commerce adapters and non-adapters facing Saudi consumer when shopping online. Practical as well as managerial implications are discussed. Keywords: E-Commerce; Online Shopping; Barriers; Adoption; Saudi Arabia 1. Introduction billion in 2010 [2]. More than forty eight percent of Internet users in Saudi Arabia reported purchasing pro- ducts and services online and through their mobile hand- sets over the past twelve months [3,4]. Acc