INMA_A01.QXD

In the last chapter, in the sections on customer adoption of Internet technology, we

looked at how Internet usage varies across different countries in terms of levels of access,

amount of usage, its influence on offline purchase and the proportion of online pur-

chases. These variations are in part dependent on how the Internet is perceived in

society. An indication of how social perceptions shape access is clear from a UK govern-

ment-sponsored survey (Booz Allen Hamilton, 2002) of perceptions in different

countries. It noted that social barriers to adoption of the Internet included:


 No perceived benefit


 Lack of trust


 Security problems


 Lack of skills


 Cost.

These factors combine to mean that there is a significant group in each national pop-

ulation of around a third of the adult population that does not envisage ever using the

Internet. Clearly, the lack of demand for Internet services from this group needs to be

taken into account when forecasting future demand. It is not sufficient to simply extrap-

olate past rates of Internet adoption growth, since in many developed countries it

appears that penetration within households is reaching a plateau as saturation of serv-

ices amongst those who require them is reached. Taking the UK as an example of

possible saturation of fixed PC-based Internet access, National Statistics (2005) reports

that in the UK, just under one third (32 per cent) of adults had never used the Internet

as of May 2005. Of those who had not used the Internet, 43 per cent stated that they did

not want to use, or had no need for, or no interest in, the Internet; 38 per cent had no

Social factors

Figure 3.1 ’Waves of change’ – different timescales for change in the environment

Infrastructure

road, railways

Government

Commerce

Technology

Social

Pop culture

The natural

environment

Social factors