The role of trust in the process of choosing between Russian and foreign internet shops of clothes and footwear

<p>&nbsp;</p><p>Internet consumption has many advantages among which are the ability to purchase goods &quot;without leaving home,&quot; less time and effort to find the right things, the lower price, the wider range of products <em>[Ritzer, 2001]</em>. However, some modern sociologists points out significant risks of purchasing online. The first is that online transaction implies a high level of uncertainty and unpredictability <em>[Matthew, Lee, Turban, 2001]</em>: problems with the delivery of goods to the final consumer, the exchange of goods, taking money back <em>[White, 2010]</em>. Buying clothes and footwear online a person can face more risky factors such as complicity of size, color and style selection. Illustration and description to goods which are presented at the web-sites do not solve the problem of adequate choice completely. However, the electronic market of clothing and footwear in Russia is growing rapidly <em>[oborot.ru, 2013]</em>. Why is it happening? What is the trust in online shopping based on?</p><p>Moreover , Russian consumers are in a situation of a choice between foreign online shops and their domestic substitutes. On the one hand, Russian online shops remove a significant portion of possible risks, for instance, allowing consumers to pay on cash in the very moment of receiving the goods and in a situation when clothes do not satisfy the demands of customers&nbsp; does allow to return them without overpayments or fines, and as soon as possible. On the contrary, foreign web-stores spend another policy: items should be paid immediately at the time of ordering online, delivery of goods takes a considerable amount of time (weeks, months), and problems with the return and exchange are not so scarce. However, it was examined that many online consumers began with buying goods in domestic online stores change their attitude in favor of purchasing from international online merchants in about a year. (Analytics of LESR (ЛЭСИ), 2013). In this case it is not obvious if the trend is caused by economic motives only, or, by other factors such as: a lack of confidence in domestic firms, trust externalization <em>[Schyuts, 1999; Magomedov, 2009]</em> which means that the level of Russian online buyers trust in foreign merchants surpasses their level of trust in domestic shops (Hyp.1).</p><p>The goal of my work is to identify the role of trust in the process of choosing between domestic and foreign online stores. The study is based on a combination of (1) the analysis of quantitative data obtained during the project &quot;Impact of cross-border trade in the retail markets of Russia&quot; in 2013 (Analytics of LESR (ЛЭСИ), 2013) (N = 313) ; and (2) analysis of the interviews with active online buyers of clothing and footwear.</p><p>The results have showed that the majority of Russian online buyers purchase clothes and footwear in domestic online stores against foreign (44 % - 17 %), but the large number of Internet users purchase from both types of online stores (39%).</p><p>By means of quantitative analysis I have calculated the index of trust in internet stores of both categories and found out that in general Russian online buyers has a low level of trust in the practice of buying clothes and footwear online. Russian online buyers trust any online store to 3 of 7 trust criteria proposed. Then I calculated three solitary indexes of trust in domestic and foreign online stores and revealed significant features. It turned out that (1) the respondents trust the system of payment of foreign online stores to a greater extent than in domestic. Perhaps this is due to the fact that payment for purchasing online in foreign internet stores should be made ​​by card or other forms of electronic money, and when you order goods in domestic online shops, you can pay on cash or by COD. (2) The process of return, exchange and receiving money for not convenient good is easier while interacting with domestic online store rather than with foreign one. (3) The overall level of confidence (or faith in the fulfillment of obligations