This article draws on a phenomenological study of understanding six early adopters’
successful online shopping experiences. Narratives of their online purchasing experiences
suggest that learning to trust e-tailers is a complex process that is shaped by factors such
as self-identity, risk awareness, and technical and brand knowledge. This article
summarises the first part of the findings from this study – the strategies the six participants
used to gain trust with e-tailers to overcome their distrust of purchasing online. These
strategies included checking payment security, gaining product information, checking the
ordering process, using brand knowledge, asking friends for advice, using expert referrals,
and assessing website structure, functionality and image. The findings suggest that
technical and/or brand knowledge best explain the methods that these participants used to
trust e-tailers because it provided them with a greater sense of comfort to purchase online.
As with offline marketing contexts, this research suggests that credibility and benevolence
are two important underlying dimensions of online trust. However, due to the distrustful
environment of e-commerce, honesty may be an important separate dimension of online
trust.
