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What are e-commerce possible challenges in developing countries: a case


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Article in International Journal of Business and Systems Research · January 2018


DOI: 10.1504/IJBSR.2018.10013734

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454 Int. J. Business and Systems Research, Vol. 12, No. 4, 2018

What are e-commerce possible challenges in


developing countries: a case study of Nigeria

Habib Ullah Khan*


Department of Accounting and Information Systems,
College of Business and Economics,
Qatar University,
P.O. Box 2713, Doha, Qatar
Email: habib.khan@qu.edu.qa
*Corresponding author

Stellamaris Uwemi
Department of Computer Science,
University of Liverpool,
Liverpool, UK
Email: stellauwemi@gmail.com

Abstract: The overarching goal to achieve the vision of Nigeria (NV2020)


cannot be realised without the synchronised effort of all the sectors. To help the
country and policy makers to identify the hurdles in attaining these lofty goals,
the present work tried to bring the views of customers and operators of
e-commerce into limelight. The study is primary data based and the data is
collected using a questionnaire that is drafted separately for both the parties,
operators and customers of Nigeria. Because of the limitations, the study could
collect the data from ten operators and 200 customers and advanced statistical
techniques are exercised. The data collected from the customers revealed that
though they are interested in e-commerce operations (like online trading),
majority are unable to complete the tasks successfully. This is because of the
bottlenecks being encountered with respect to various sectors. In addition, the
correlation analysis proved that the challenges of e-commerce have majority
bearing on the economy of the country. On the whole, the study not only
provided inputs to the policy makers, but also explained the operators of
e-commerce about the capabilities, requirements and problems of the customers
in performing successful e-commerce transactions.

Keywords: NV2020; e-commerce challenges; operators; economic


development; Nigeria.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Khan, H.U. and Uwemi, S.
(2018) ‘What are e-commerce possible challenges in developing countries:
a case study of Nigeria’, Int. J. Business and Systems Research, Vol. 12, No. 4,
pp.454–486.

Biographical notes: Habib Ullah Khan is an Associate Professor of MIS in


Department of Accounting and Information Systems, from the College of
Business and Economics, Qatar University, Qatar. He completed his PhD in
Management Information Systems from the Leeds Metropolitan University,
UK. He has nearly 18 years of industry, teaching and research experience. His

Copyright © 2018 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.


What are e-commerce possible challenges in developing countries 455

research interests are in the areas of IT adoption in supply chain management,


internet addiction, mobile commerce, computer mediated communication, IT
outsourcing, big data, and IT security.

Stellamaris Uwemi completed her Master’s in Information Management


System from the University of Liverpool, UK. She is an active researcher as
her areas of interest are: e-commerce, information technology and business
management.

1 Introduction

Since the turn of the millennium, the emergence of e-commerce in the business
secedwintor of developed countries has brought tremendous growth to the global
economy (Kikovska-Georgievska, 2013; Burinskienė, 2012; Awan et al., 2012; Halabi
et al., 2014; Khan, 2013a). E-commerce has been successfully implemented and utilised
in developed countries with huge economic and social benefits. But the same cannot be
said about developing countries. Several challenges have been identified by researchers
as to why e-commerce has not been a success in developing countries as in developed
countries. Though Nigeria has its own strengths, it is strive towards achieving the lofty
goal of national vision will not be accomplished until and unless the version of all the
stakeholders is considered in designing strategies (Agwu and Emeti, 2014; Ladokun et
al., 2013; Eraslan et al., 2016; Najmi et al., 2015; Heang and Khan, 2015). On one hand,
mobile penetration is very high in Nigeria and on the other, the usage of internet banking
or e-commerce is considerably low (Akturan and Tezcan, 2012; Khan, 2016; Hassan et
al., 2016). This shortfall in the spread of e-commerce is attributed to various barriers.
Umpteen works have helped in sensitising the stakeholders of the e-commerce gamut
(Akintola et al., 2011; Khan et al., 2014a), but the important player in this spectrum,
operator is not given enough prominence. So, measuring the strength, coverage and
utilisation of e-commerce operations in developing countries requires an assessment of
the two views: consumers’ and operators’. This research aims to identify such challenges
and also investigates the impact of e-commerce on the economic growth of developing
countries. These challenges will be investigated from the view point of both consumers
and operators of e-commerce and appropriate solutions will be proposed to address the
identified challenges.
Also, the view of the two groups related to the impact of the e-commerce
development on the economy of Nigeria would be collected for better understanding.
This research covered the consumers/customers who patronise online businesses, and the
operators who provide e-commerce services. The furtherance of this paper explains the
reviews done in order to gain more knowledge about the linkages of the variables
involved. The methodology followed and the analysis performed to attain the objective of
the paper is presented in the following sessions of the paper.

2 Review of literature

Makame et al. (2014) decipher that e-commerce is changing the traditional way of doing.
456 H.U. Khan and S. Uwemi

The internet has brought about the tremendous growth of e-commerce in developed
and developing countries. Meharia (2012) explains that “the dawn of e-commerce in the
mid-1990s is seen by many, as the beginning of an entirely radical way of buying goods
and services”. The definition of e-commerce differs between academicians and scholars.
Jobodwana (2009) explains e-commerce as “the method of doing transaction across the
internet”. The use of e-commerce facilitates the transaction of business between different
parties over the internet in a quick and efficient way. This has facilitated market entry
strategies to those companies that can perform transactions virtually. The effect of
e-commerce has greatly influenced the global economy in various ways. It has enhanced
the pace of various sectors like information technology, economy and boosted
productivity. Nahari and Krutz (2011) mentioned that buying and selling of products and
services through the networks is known as e-commerce.
With e-commerce, people are now able to exchange goods and services through the
internet without travelling and wasting time. E-commerce transactions have encouraged
the growth of businesses in different forms (Burinskienė, 2012; Khan et al., 2013; Askoul
et al., 2016; Fu et al., 2016). E-commerce in one way or the other as sharpened the global
economy and transformed a lot of businesses globally. It has brought sea change in the
markets, increased accessibility and advanced organisations’ competitive edge (Khan
et al., 2014b; Gulati and Kadyan, 2015; Musa et al., 2015; Luthra et al., 2017).
E-commerce is a tool that addresses the desires of consumers, businesses, government
sectors, improve customers’ services, etc. It has become a component of business strategy
and it helps in developing the economy (Khan, 2012; Kikovska-Georgievska, 2013; Roy
and Dangayach, 2015).

2.1 E-commerce in developed countries


In developed countries there is high internet usage and as a result people are able to
deploy e-commerce to their advantage. Even their marketplace has gone beyond
traditional boundaries whereby shopping takes place anytime and anywhere with
consumer’s convenience and reduced cost of shopping (Faraji et al., 2013; Khan, 2013b;
Brock and Khan, 2017). In developed countries, e-commerce has been able to connect
people, countries and organisations, enabling them to operate with each other globally
(Haider and Saman, 2012). With this the companies got greater opportunities in
conducting business and technological improvement (Dhingra and Dhingra, 2013). This
has improved productivity and effectiveness and companies have been able to manage
their operational and transaction costs which boost their profitability (Bazdan, 2011;
Khan and Awan, 2017).

2.2 E-commerce in developing countries


In this regard, developing countries are trying to catch up as they are quite far behind.
These countries are trying to adopt the practices of the developed countries like the USA
and UK, that have benefited from low cost accessibility to wider markets, have been able
to access markets anytime and anywhere, thus boosting their economy and increasing
their competitive advantage (Gautam, 2012; Khan et al., 2017a). The adoption of e-
commerce has given various opportunities to organisations to penetrate into the national
and international markets of developed countries. Despite the benefits gained by
developed countries from the adoption of e-commerce, available literature shows that the
What are e-commerce possible challenges in developing countries 457

level of adoption e-commerce in developing countries is low because of the challenges


(Vaithianathan, 2010; Das and Khan, 2016). It is also added that unlike the developed
countries, in developing countries people usually buy and sell face to face. They want to
see whatever they want to purchase and negotiate the best deal. The advancement of e-
commerce in developing countries is slow because it faces a lot of limitation (Azizi,
2013; Awan and Khan, 2016). Many firms in developing countries have not really
realised the potential benefits of e-commerce. There are a lot of challenges with e-
commerce in developing countries that need to be addressed before they can actualise the
benefits of e-commerce (Vaithianathan, 2010; Khan and Fournier-Bonilla, 2016).
E-commerce is able to create opportunities in both local and international markets for
small and medium scale businesses in developing countries and this has a positive effect
on the economic growth which generates more revenue and profits. Doing business
electronically is growing in societies of the developing countries but is unable to cope
with the developed countries as they are not been able to utilise the potential and
efficiencies of e-commerce to a greater extent (Huamei, 2013; Ojo-Agbodu and Omah,
2012). The environmental and economic constraints of developing countries (Gikandi
and Bloor, 2010; Khan et al., 2016) also attribute for reaping the minimal benefits of
e-commerce. Most of the research carried out on e-commerce for developing countries
has focused on social and legal issues such as privacy, authentication, trust, psychological
and cultural barriers, internet access and e-security (Kundi et al., 2012), but enough work
is not done in the areas such as technological infrastructure, policy initiatives and trust
that are affecting the spread of e-commerce (Makame et al., 2014; Khan and Alhusseini,
2015). If sufficient attention is given, e-commerce has the potential to improve
productivity and efficiency and will change the way business is done and offer good
opportunities for growth in developing countries (Gautam, 2012; Uwemi and Khan,
2016). Thus, there is every need to evaluate the challenges facing e-commerce in
developing countries.
Several researches have been carried out to understand how the e-commerce has
improved business transactions globally and also how the barriers are affecting
e-commerce in developing countries (Azizi, 2013; Vaithianathan, 2010; Bashir and Khan,
2016). Oreku et al. (2009) proved from their work that e-commerce has enormous
potential that will empower the people in developing countries to be able to overcome
obstacles and achieve a viable economy. Having understood the prevailing situation of
e-commerce globally, this research work would look into the factors that are inhibiting
e-commerce in developing countries using Nigeria as a case study and also propose
appropriate solutions.

2.3 Nigeria as a case study


E-commerce patronage in Nigeria has been quite low when compared to the developed
countries, in spite of the growth of online shopping ubiquitously. A recent report of
Nigeria shows that the growth of e-commerce in 2011 is N49.9b and in 2012 it increased
to N62.4 billion naira (Obi and Onah, 2014; Hassan et al., 2015; Bashir et al., 2016; Khan
and Ejike, 2017). Recent statistics about the public domain reveal that Nigeria has a
population of over 160 million and about 84 million are under the age 20 years. This
makes the country as one of the biggest consumer markets in Africa generating huge
demand for mobile phones, ipads, laptops, computers which can be used to access the
458 H.U. Khan and S. Uwemi

internet and shop online. The development of e-commerce and online trading is gradually
coming up in Nigeria, with the boom of online companies likes of Konga, Dealdey,
Jumia, Traclist, Buyam, etc. Some of them have enticed foreign capital to expand their
business across the country, while others are struggling to survive, as the profits are low
due to high cost of bandwidth in accessing the internet, and also limited developed on
online contents that can drive the e-commerce business (Thisday, 2014; Omonaiye et al.,
2015).
Nevertheless, internet usage in developing countries has been on the rise, since the
initiation of GSM operations. In Nigeria, global system for mobile communication
(GSM) operations started in 2001 and since then the number of people using internet
services has rapidly increased. According to Adepetun (2014), it is mentioned that
“Nigeria has about 130 million active mobile users and the number of internet users of
GSM network is up to 63.4 million”. This has been a great improvement but the cost of
using internet is still high because of the cost of investments in the country and despite
this improvement, the great percentage of the population is still unreached.
Nigeria can represent a typical developing nation because of its large population,
giant economy, a country endowed with natural resources, if all challenges are properly
addressed. According to Thisday (2014), it is pointed out that “government and the
generality of Nigerians are beginning to realise the huge opportunities that abound in
e-commerce and online trade. But, the Nigerian investors need the enabling environment
to help them tap the opportunities” (Kareem et al., 2014; Ejike et al., 2016).
The GSM which is introduced in Nigeria in August 2001 boosted the business
transaction and the economy of Nigeria. As a result, people are able do their businesses
over the phone (Obi and Onah, 2014; Uwemi et al., 2016). Nevertheless, there have been
a many challenges making payments for products and services using e-commerce
(Egbokhare et al., 2011; Awan et al., 2016). However, most of the consumers in Nigeria
prefer to purchase their products/services directly from vendors. They will rather visit the
location where the product/service is being offered and check whatever products/services
they are interested in before they negotiate the cost and make payment.
A move towards a cashless economy will enhance the adoption of e-commerce. A
cashless economy is about limiting the circulation of cash in the economy (Nwaolisa and
Kasie, 2012) and the banks keeping the transaction of cash to the barest minimum. That
is, there should be a certain low amount of cash that should be allowed during transaction
(Okoye and Ezejiofor, 2013; Mieseigha and Ogbodo, 2013; Ho et al., 2016). This
cashless economy policy has been designed for e-payment services; this will go a long
way to increase the usage of online consumers in the country (Okoye and Ezejiofor,
2013; Smuts et al., 2017). Thus, Nigerian technological domain is expanding at a slow
pace which is in need of a push to overcome the affecting factors.

2.4 Factors affecting adoption and utilisation of e-commerce in Nigeria


Numerous factors have contributed to the slow growth of e-commerce in developing
countries, especially in Africa. Many of the studies that have been carried out on the
adoption of e-commerce in the developing countries have highlighted the problems,
which include consumer attitudes, infrastructure, political issues, socio-economic issues,
language barriers, computer illiteracy, etcetera (Olatokun and Bankole, 2011; Apulu and
What are e-commerce possible challenges in developing countries 459

Ige, 2011; Bankole et al., 2017). Most Africans have not really known the essence of
e-commerce and even consumers are hesitant in giving out their personal information
because of online fraud (Anzaki, 2014). There are different issues hindering the spread of
e-commerce such as consumer attitudes towards e-commerce systems, privacy, security
of consumers’ information and trust (Wei et al., 2010)

2.5 Economic and socio-political


The issues of e-commerce adoption in Nigeria are centred on economic, social-political
and cognitive issues. The economic issues are centred on slow internet diffusion with the
unavailability of credit cards and logistics (Jobodwana, 2009; Khan et al., 2017b). Also,
socio-political issues, formal and informal institutions, cognition related issues coupled
with legal, environmental and policy related issues are further creating impediments.
Cognitive issues are the lack of awareness, language barrier and computer illiteracy
(Egbokhare et al., 2011). Olusegun et al. (2006) explain that “some of the issues affecting
the adoption of e-commerce in Nigeria are mainly security and citizen’s income”. In most
of the developing countries, consumers are bent on using the traditional e-commerce
transaction because of many technical and non-technical issues and hence consumers’
readiness becomes a key factor (Awa et al., 2010).

2.6 Awareness of e-commerce


In developing countries, e-commerce literacy levels seem to be low because of lack of
awareness. The issue of lack of internet awareness hinders the development of
e-commerce in developing countries (Bangkok Post, 2006). So, internet users often face
challenges that affect successful on-line interaction. Also, illiteracy and computer
illiteracy has been a serious obstacle hindering the growth of e-business (Mieseigha and
Ogbodo, 2013; McCrohan et al., 2010; Khan and Adediji, 2017). As a result, many
people are confined only to e-mail, browsing the web and chatting on social media. In
addition, the low level of awareness of information technology of individuals and
organisations attribute to the limited utilisation of e-commerce, which in turn is inhibiting
to explore the means to improve their businesses (Salehi, 2013).

2.7 Government policies


Many studies show that appropriate governmental policies do influence the growth of
e-commerce (Burinskienė, 2012). The developing countries are facing different economic
challenges because of poor governance (Akintola et al., 2011), i.e., they lack efficient
leaders and hence government that lack knowledge and willingness to address various
social, economic, political problems. Some of the issues that Africa is struggling with are
multidimensional, such as political uncertainty, economic mismanagement and poverty
(Jobodwana, 2009). Although, a number of e-commerce activities are evolving in most
developing countries, the growth has been very slow because of lack of appropriate
government policies (Anzaki, 2014). In addition to the above, the issues about
government policy framing and implementation are the major crux that the developing
countries are facing (Agwu and Emeti, 2014).
460 H.U. Khan and S. Uwemi

2.8 Trust about e-commerce system


Several works have been carried out about the ‘trust’ which has been a concern on
e-commerce and one of the most researched aspects of e-commerce from users’
perspective ubiquitously. When it comes to e-commerce, trust has a major role to play
because it is one of the key drivers for customers while performing their transactions
online (Kobayashi et al., 2013). Huamei (2013) pointed out that ‘one of the main issues
of online shopping is lack of trust in online purchase.’ Trust is very crucial in a large
community of unidentified merchants (Bazdan, 2011). It plays a vital role in motivating
consumers (Boateng et al., 2014) to purchase products and services online.

2.9 Security and privacy


The convenience of e-commerce has enabled consumers to access products and services
remotely and 24X7, which has made e-commerce more popular. Although, some
researchers have argued that security and privacy has restricted the full potential of
e-commerce (Agwu et al., 2014), many customers have genuine fears on providing their
private information to an unknown body over the internet, and they do not know the way
their information will be handled (Feigenbaum et al., 2009). This attitude of consumer
towards e-commerce is due to the fear, fraud and online crime and hence made security
and privacy as one of the serious issues of e-commerce services in developing countries
(Ibikunle, 2013). Protecting consumers’ data from online fraud can be achieved by proper
security. The issue is critical to the consumers as well as for the organisations, as this is
the critical success factor for the latter one (Mandić, 2009).

2.10 The infrastructural requirements of e-commerce and impact of


e-commerce on economy
It has been highlighted by many researchers that dearth of infrastructural facilities has
been known as an obstacle for the growth of e-commerce (Ambrose, 2012). As, the
efficacy of internet services depend on the telecommunication infrastructure of any
country, the developing countries are far much behind than developed countries in this
regard because of paucity of technical requirements for carrying out e-commerce
(Ibikunle, 2013). In addition, for e-commerce applications to succeed, it is not just the
necessary infrastructure to be available, but the vital supporting factors such as
technology, policy initiatives and trust are to be established and maintained in developing
countries (Makame et al., 2014).
Internet and e-commerce have brought different countries together to build a
worldwide networked economy and this growth and integration of ICT has changed
economies and societies (Gautam, 2012). The economic importance of e-commerce is
well-pronounced in changes that are created in the activities of enterprises and these
changes result in an increase in productivity (Minculete and Minculete, 2013). This
impacts the people, organisations, industry and the country as a whole and increases
trading with other countries and greater opportunities for global information-sharing
and marketing (Mohammed and Al-Tarawneh, 2014; Weber and Kauffman, 2011).
E-commerce will allow firms to have the ability to become virtual businesses which will
increase productivity (Smith, 2011).
What are e-commerce possible challenges in developing countries 461

Needless to say that e-commerce has created plethora of job opportunities, consumers
are able be reach a wider market, there is gain in production and system efficiencies and
creation of value addition to services (Olatokun and Bankole, 2011; Minculete and
Minculete, 2013). Kareem et al. (2014) added to this by mentioning that e-business
operations helped both the industries and economy of Nigeria in the area of cost
reduction of product and services, improvement of operations and services, business
expansions, better customer satisfactions, high profit margins, fast delivery, etc. on the
whole it is quite evident from the literature that e-commerce is able to fast track global
commercial development in Nigeria and remove the boundaries of international trade
(Ma’aruf and Abdulkadir, 2012). It is also briefed from the literature that e-commerce
can give more benefits, if the persisting hurdles are addressed thoroughly.
Developing nations need to overcome these challenges that hinder the growth of
e-commerce and studies are being carried out to explore the means to be adopted in this
context. This work focuses on the above discussed challenges and how they can be
addressed. While addressing the gaps in literature, this study aims to evaluate the
challenges of e-commerce in developing countries using Nigeria as a case study. In
particular, this research work is designed to address the challenges that are encountered
by not only consumers that are using e-commerce but also the operators of e-commerce
and proffer solutions.
For having a better understanding of various issues discussed so far, they are briefed
in Table 1.
Table 1 Enabling factors for e-commerce implementation in Nigeria

Factors Supported by Relevance


E-commerce status in Bazdan (2011), Faraji et al. Improved productivity and effectiveness
developed countries (2013), Haider and Saman and most organisations have been able to
(2012) and Dhingra and successfully manage their operational
Dhingra (2013) and transaction costs which boost their
economy
E-commerce in Vaithianathan (2010), Different challenges on e-commerce in
developing countries Gautam (2012) and Azizi developing countries will have to address
(2013) so that the benefits of e-commerce can be
recognised.
Issues that are affecting Olatokun and Bankole Issues affecting of e-commerce are
the utilisation of (2011), Apulu and Ige political, technological infrastructure,
e-commerce in (2011), Egbokhare et al. cultural, socio-economic and legal and
developing countries (2011) and Jobodwana regulatory in adoption in developing
(2009) countries.
Data security and Feigenbaum et al. (2009) The security and privacy has led to
Privacy and Ibikunle (2013) negative effects on the growth of online
payment
Trust of e-commerce Kobayashi et al. (2013), Trust has a serious role to play on e-
Huamei (2013), Boateng et commerce it is one of the key drivers for
al. (2014) and Bazdan customers in terms of transactions
(2011)
Awareness e-commerce McCrohan et al. (2010), Lack of educational program on
Mieseigha and Ogbodo e-commerce that will positively influence
(2013), Salehi (2013) and users’
Bangkok Post (2006)
462 H.U. Khan and S. Uwemi

2.11 Gap in literature


The discussion above has shown that like many other developing countries, Nigeria is
facing some challenges in the adoption of e-commerce. While many of the scholarly
works on the literature review focused on the effect of challenges on the usage of
e-commerce services, this work focused on the operators of e-commerce services as well
as consumers to understand the bottle necks they are facing on e-commerce services.
Thus this study’s aim is to find out the challenges that are impacting the adaption of
e-commerce in Nigeria adversely. It also examines the effect of these factors on the
consumers’ and operators using e-commerce and proffers amicable solutions.
Though there are several studies discussed on the implementation of e-commerce in
Nigeria, but hardly focus on the perspective of operators and consumers. The selection of
some of the challenges in the adaption of e-commerce might be determined based on the
various issues that are mentioned earlier on. Hence, this work’s aim is to examine these
factors affecting the consumers’ and operators challenges of e-commerce. The focus is to
find the correlations between these characteristics gender type, age, educational standard
and the factors that are challenging the development of e-commerce such as security and
privacy, trust, economy impact, awareness, promotion.

3 Theoretical framework

The theoretical framework adopted for this research to highlight the challenges that are
encountered by the operators and the consumers of e-commerce revealed various factors
that are identified by literature review. As it is mentioned in Figure 1, various challenges
of customers/operators (social, economic, political, etc.) influence the spread of
e-commerce as well as the economy of the country. That is, the factors are interrelated
and in turn impact the economy of the country directly; through spread of e-commerce
indirectly. Also, Figure 2 reveals the challenges that are encountered by the service
operators and the customers of e-commerce. Under each branch, the list of the hurdles
come crossed in the literature review is listed.

Figure 1 Research conceptual model (see online version for colours)


What are e-commerce possible challenges in developing countries 463

Figure 2 List of challenges of e-commerce that are encountered by operators and customers
(see online version for colours)

4 Materials and methods

In this research work, a questionnaire is designed using Google drive, and sent to
consumers via email using a customised URL link. Face to face interviews are conducted
(Yin, 2003) with e-commerce operators using a prepared set of questions in order to
gather information. The greater proportion of data collected is from consumers who had
online access and operators who are e-commerce merchants. Companies that do not deal
with online businesses are excluded from the study. A total of 225 questionnaires are
distributed among the e-commerce consumers and 208 are filled and returned. After
scrutiny, data from 200 questionnaires is found useful for the study. The male
participants are 106 and female are 94. The participants’ ages range from 18 years to
62 years.
The data collected is analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences
(SPSS) software. The results are tested at 5% level of significance.
464 H.U. Khan and S. Uwemi

5 Analysis

In the analysis, the demographical and social statistics of the participants’ along with
their view on the challenges being encountered during e-commerce usage in developing
countries are presented.
Table 2 Socio-demographic characteristics of customers

Category Profile Frequency Percentage (%)


Gender Male 106 53
Female 94 47
Total 200 100
Age 18–29 68 34
30–39 61 30.5
40–49 41 20.5
50–59 24 12
> = 60 6 3
Total 200 100
Educational PhD 4 2
Standard Post-graduate 53 26.5
Bachelor’s 98 49
OND 35 17.5
O’level 10 5
Total 200 100

Figure 3 Doughnut chart depicting the gender wise participation of customers in the study
(see online version for colours)

From the 200 selected questionnaires (male participants are about 106 and female are 94)
of the e-commerce consumers, who are aged between 18 years to 62 years, dominant age
group is 30–39 years (more than 30% of the participants). Also, participants within the
age 40–49 are approximately 20.5% and the remaining (aged 60 years and above)
represent only 3.0% of the total participants. Majority of the participants in the research
group are well-educated, that is more that 75% of them have bachelor’s degree or above.
What are e-commerce possible challenges in developing countries 465

In addition, a large number of participants have bachelor and master degrees (49% and
26.5% respectively).

5.1 Customer’s perspective


5.1.1 Challenges of e-commerce
For the data collected about various challenges encountered by the customers while using
e-commerce are listed and reveal that the percentage of customers who strongly agree
and agree that ‘slow network and unreliable technology are the challenges’ are 26.0% and
33.5% respectively; 12% and 17.5% strongly disagreed and disagreed respectively and
11% responded neutral. Also, more than half of the customers responded pro (i.e., 30.5%
and 28.5%, strongly agree and agree respectively) to for the point, ‘difficulty in searching
the internet is a challenge’. A few of them, i.e., 9.5%, replied neutral but 14.5% and
17.0% strongly disagree and disagree respectively. On the aspect of security, 42% and
17% agreed and strongly agreed respectively that ‘security’ is not guaranteed, 13.5% are
neutral, while 15.5% and 12% strongly disagreed and disagreed respectively that security
is not guaranteed. For the question asked about their concern about security, around
three-fourth replied that they concern more about security (29.0% and 43.5% agreed and
strongly agreed respectively). Very few, i.e., 1.0%, neither agree nor disagree, while
9.5% and 17.0% strongly disagreed and disagreed respectively that security is a concern.
Table 3 Respondents view on challenges of e-commerce

Neither
Strongly agree or Strongly
Challenges of Disagree Agree
disagree neither agree
e-commerce disagree
# % # % # % # % # %
Slow network and 24 12 35 17.5 22 11 67 33.5 52 26
unreliable technology
Difficulty in searching 29 14.5 34 17 19 9.5 57 28.5 61 30.5
the internet
Security not reliable 31 15.5 24 12 27 13.5 84 42 34 17
Concern over security 19 9.5 34 17 2 1 58 29 87 43.5
Credit card number 11 5.5 29 14.5 11 5.5 63 31.5 86 43
might be stolen on the
internet
Internet shopping in 60 30 59 29.5 34 17 29 14.5 18 9
Nigeria is well secure
Buying things on the 34 17 41 20.5 24 12 57 28.5 44 22
internet scares

Around 75% of the respondents (43.0% and 31.5%, strongly agreed and agreed
respectively) agree that ‘credit card numbers may be stolen via the internet’; 5.5% did not
respond, while 5.5% and 14.5% strongly disagreed and disagreed respectively that ‘credit
card numbers may be stolen via the internet’. This concern of customers’ demands more
attentions for the security related issues involved in online banking. Also, the response
regarding the challenge ‘issue with security on internet shopping in Nigeria’, revealed
466 H.U. Khan and S. Uwemi

that a only small number, i.e., 9% and 14.5% of the respondents, strongly agree and agree
respectively that internet shopping in Nigeria is well secured; 17.0% responded neutral,
while more than 50% disagree for this point (i.e., 30.0% and 29.5% strongly disagree and
disagree respectively that internet shopping in Nigeria is secured). Yet, while 22.0% and
28.5% of the customers strongly agree and agree respectively that buying things via the
internet scares them, 12.0% did not respond pro or anti, only 17.0% and 20.5% strongly
disagree and disagree respectively that buying things via the internet scares them. This
situation of Nigeria blows an alarm over the facilities available in Nigeria and questions
the statements of many researchers that internet security in Nigeria is increasing
(Ayo et al., 2011).

5.1.2 Impact of e-commerce on the economy


The analysis of the responses pertaining to the data collected to know the impact of
e-commerce on the economy revealed that, 11.5% and 16.0% strongly agree and agree
respectively that ‘local stores have better prices than internet stores’, 28.5% responded
neutral, while 25.5% and 18.5% strongly disagree and disagree this statement. However,
around 50% of the customers (17.5% and 29.5% strongly agree and agree respectively)
‘prefer internet shopping over local stores’; 17.0% are neutral, while 17.0% and 19.0%
strongly disagree and disagree respectively to prefer internet shopping. By understanding
the response for the comparison of internet shopping to traditional stores, more than half
of the customers agree (18.5% and 32.5% of the customers strongly agree and agree
respectively) that internet shopping offers better collection than the traditional stores;
29.0% neither agree nor disagree, while 11.0% and 9% strongly disagree and disagree
respectively for the above said point.
The results of the above questions are quiet surprising that though the products are
expensive through online shopping, because of the ease of performing transactions,
people are more interested to shop through internet. If this response of public is tapped
and the hurdles of internet shopping are cleared to the maximum extent, the response for
online shopping booms in Nigeria (Ambrose, 2012). Only, 17.5% and 12.0% strongly
agree and agree respectively to have made purchase on the internet; 7% did not respond
either way.
For the point, ‘internet shopping would avoid the hassle of local shopping’, majority
of the respondents agreed (25.5% and 38.5%, strongly agree and agree respectively), a
few are neutral, while 14.5% and 15.5% strongly disagree and disagree respectively for
this point. This point again shows the interest of the people towards the upcoming
technology. More than 80% of the customers (34.5% and 49.0% strongly agree and agree
respectively) that promotion of e-commerce is necessary in Nigeria; 12.0% are
indifferent, while only few disagreed. Analysis of the experience of shopping on the
internet revealed that more than 70% are pro to (28.5% and 43.5% strongly agree and
agree respectively) the experience of shopping over the internet, 11% are neutral, while a
few disagreed.
Table 4

Strongly Neither agree or neither


Disagree Agree Strongly agree
disagree disagree
# % # % # % # % # %
Local stores have better prices than internet stores 51 25.5 37 18.5 57 28.5 32 16 23 11.5
Prefer internet shopping 34 17 38 19 34 17 59 29.5 35 17.5
Internet shopping offers better collection than the 22 11 18 9 58 29 65 32.5 37 18.5
traditional stores
Made any purchases on the internet successfully 68 34 59 29.5 14 7 24 12 35 17.5
Internet shopping would avoid the hassle of local 29 14.5 31 15.5 12 6 77 38.5 51 25.5
shopping
Promotion of e-commerce is necessary in Nigeria 5 2.5 4 2 24 12 98 49 69 34.5
Impact of e-commerce on the economy

Experience shopping on the internet is very good 19 9.5 15 7.5 22 11 87 43.5 57 28.5
Very low Low Moderate High Very high
Extent of trust to the service of the e-commerce 41 20.5 37 18.5 76 38 27 13.5 19 9.5
platform
Frequency of use of e-commerce platform 54 27 66 33 44 22 21 10.5 15 7.5
Very much Neither satisfied nor
Dissatisfied Satisfied Very much satisfied
dissatisfied dissatisfied
Satisfied with online shopping in putting into 19 9.5 21 10.5 54 27 64 32 42 21
consideration in terms of security and privacy
Satisfied with e-commerce platforms 24 12 54 27 63 31.5 38 19 21 10.5
What are e-commerce possible challenges in developing countries
467
468 H.U. Khan and S. Uwemi

The two vital attributes of customers of e-commerce, trust and extent of usage of
e-commerce are measured using a five point scale, ranging from very low to very high.
The data on the level of trust about the ‘service of the e-commerce platform’ revealed
that majority have low level of trust (20.5% and 18.5% indicated low and very low level
of trust) to the service of the e-commerce platform; 38.0% are of moderate view and
others responded positively. May be because of the low level of trust, majority of them
(27.0% and 33.0% are very low and low respectively) are using the e-commerce platform
rarely and only 7.5% and 10.5% use the platform frequently. So, fostering trust among
the customers is the best way to encourage them to use the e-commerce frequently.
The analysis of the satisfaction of the customers is also tested on a five point scale
ranging from very much dissatisfied to very much satisfied to know whether the
consumers are satisfied with online shopping by considering the issues of security and
privacy. It is proved that only half of the customers (21.0% and 32.0% are very satisfied
and satisfied respectively) are satisfied, 27.0% are undecided, while 10.5% and 9.5% are
dissatisfied and very dissatisfied respectively about online shopping because of security
and privacy. The less frequent usage of e-commerce platform of the customers is also
supported by their level of dissatisfaction. That is, only 10.5% and 19.0% are very
satisfied and satisfied respectively with e-commerce platforms, 31.5% are undecided and
others are dissatisfied. It can be observed that not even 50% of the customers are not
satisfied with the performance of e-commerce platform. So, it is quite evident that the
factors trust of e-commerce, its usage frequency and its level of satisfaction are very
much interrelated and increasing the former one can obviously increase the latter ones.

5.2 Operators perspectives


To have an unbiased opinion about the e-commerce spread in Nigeria, information is
collected not only from the customers but also from the service providers, operators. Face
to face interview is conducted with operators using questionnaires, since they did not
respond to the online survey request. The questionnaire for the interview sessions is
attached in Appendix A.

5.2.1 Challenges of e-commerce encountered by the operators


Operators of the e-commerce shared the challenges they are facing during performing the
tasks. For the question, that whether the consumers are concerned about online security,
majority denied the statement. That is, 40.0% agreed that consumers are concerned about
security of e-commerce, 10.0% responded neutral, while majority 20.0% and 30.0%
strongly disagreed and disagreed that ‘consumers are concerned about online security of
e-commerce’. This is quite surprising result that the customers are not concerned about
the security of e-commerce. Further investigation into this angle may provide apt
reasoning for this inference. The results for the question, whether the costs of transaction
and marketing reduced because of e-commerce, majority of the operators agreed (i.e.,
20.0% and 40.0% agreed and strongly agreed) positively, 10.0% neither agreed nor
disagreed, while 10.0% and 20.05% strongly disagreed and disagreed respectively to this
view. In addition, operators raised concern about the huge cost of setting up e-commerce
equipment, i.e., 60% agreed to the view that ‘cost of setting up e-commerce is a
challenge’, while 20.0% strongly disagreed to the view. Also, around 70% highlighted
What are e-commerce possible challenges in developing countries 469

that infrastructural challenges is a problem, i.e., 30.0% and 40.0% strongly agreed and
agreed to the view that infrastructural challenges are being encountered while
e-commerce business implementation in Nigeria; only 10.0% disagreed for this
statement. Apart from the above, security and privacy issues are highlighted as another
set of challenges by respondents. All the respondents revealed (90.0% and 10.0%
strongly agreed and agreed) that security and privacy issues are parts of the challenges
facing e-commerce businesses in Nigeria. This result explains how much enormous is the
problem of security and privacy over internet usage in Nigeria.
Also, operators are asked whether the consumers encountered technical problems
during ordering their on-line purchase. Majority of the operator agree that (50.0% and
30.0% of the operators agreed and strongly agreed) customers sometimes encountered
technical problems during ordering their on-line purchase, while 10.0% did not agree
with this. This version of the operators coincides with the versions of customers that not
even 50% of them are unable to complete the online transaction successfully.
Table 5 Challenges of e-commerce encountered by the operators

Neither
Strongly agree or Strongly
Disagree Agree
disagree neither agree
disagree
# % # % # % # % # %
Customers are 2 20 3 30 1 10 4 40 0 0
concerned about
security on
e-commerce
Whether the cost of 1 10 2 20 1 10 4 40 2 20
transaction, marketing
of ecommerce reduced
High cost in setting up 2 20 2 20 0 0 3 30 3 30
e-commerce equipment
Infrastructural 0 0 1 10 1 10 4 40 3 30
challenges exist while
implementing e-
commerce business in
Nigeria
Security and privacy 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 10 9 90
issues e-commerce
business in Nigeria?
Consumers satisfied 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 90 1 10
with respect to security
and privacy shopping
online
Consumers sometime 0 0 1 10 1 10 3 30 5 50
encounter technical
problems during
ordering their online
purchases
470 H.U. Khan and S. Uwemi

5.2.2 Impact of e-commerce on the economy


As in the case of customers, operators are also asked about the impact of e-commerce on
the economy. While the e-commerce operators are asked on possible ‘increase in the
application of e-commerce over the years in Nigeria’, majority of them agreed (50.0%
and 30.0% are strongly agreed and agreed respectively) to the view, 10.0% are neutral
and 10.0% disagreed. But, it is the view of e-commerce operators that e-commerce has its
advantages over the traditional methods, i.e., all the operators agreed to this view. It is
also a revelation from e-commerce operators that e-commerce eliminates middle-men,
thereby dropping the cost of product (i.e., 40.0% and 50.0% of the operators strongly
agreed and agreed to the view).
E-commerce operators expressed their operational superiority over traditional trade.
While they are asked if an online trade is better than traditional trade, majority of them
agreed, (40.0% and 30.0% strongly agree and agree respectively) and 20% disagreed.
Table 6 Impact of e-commerce on the economy

Neither
Strongly agree or Strongly
Disagree Agree
disagree neither agree
disagree
# % # % # % # % # %
Application of 0 0 1 10 1 10 3 30 5 50
e-commerce will
increase over the
years in Nigeria
E-commerce has its 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 40 6 60
advantages over the
traditional methods
E-commerce will 0 0 0 0 1 10 5 50 4 40
eliminate middleman,
thereby dropping cost
An operator in online 0 0 1 10 2 20 3 30 4 40
trade is better than
traditional trade
E-commerce 0 0 0 0 1 10 3 30 6 60
platforms been able to
help improve level of
business transactions
Customers happy with 0 0 1 10 2 20 3 30 4 40
service concessions
The application of 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 30 7 70
e-commerce has
increased over the
years in Nigeria

Operators of e-commerce are also asked about the improvement of level of business
through e-commerce platform. Most of them replied positively (60.0% and 30.0%
strongly agreed and agreed), while 10.0% are neutral. They also felt that consumers feel
happy with service concessions from e-commerce operators (40.0% and 30.0% of
e-commerce operators agreed); 20.0% are neutral, while 10.0% replied negatively. Also
What are e-commerce possible challenges in developing countries 471

on the increase of e-commerce over the years in Nigeria, all the operators had positive
view (70.0% and 30.0% of the operators strongly agreed and agreed).
In addition to the above frequency distribution analysis, correlation and regression
techniques are also used in this analysis. Correlation analysis is used to know the relation
between the challenges of e-commerce and the impact of e-commerce on economy as per
the versions of customer and the operator of e-commerce services. Thus the value of
correlation coefficient between the challenges of e-commerce and the impact of
e-commerce on the economy as per the former version is obtained as r (x, y) = – 0.7.
That is, from this value of high negative correlation, it can be stated that the more the
challenges encountered by the customers during the operations of e-commerce, less will
be the impact of e-commerce on the economy of the country. This means that the
challenges encountered in the development process of online technology are not just
hurdles for the spread of e-commerce but are impediments for the growth of economy.
On the other hand, a weak correlation is found (r (x, y) = 0.2) between the challenges that
are encountered by the operators and the impact of e-commerce on the economy of the
country. Though this positive correlation, the lower correlation value does not show any
positive impact about the nature of relations ship between these variables. By and large,
the correlation calculated from the version of customers reveal a negative impact of
challenges of e-commerce on the growth of economy. Similarly, the version of operators
does not provide sufficient evidence to show that there is positive impact on the economy
of the country.
Also, the regression analysis conducted to know the degree of dependence between
these variables in the case of customers and operators reveal interesting facts. The
challenges of e-commerce on the economy of the country proved that among all the other
influence variables, the challenges of e-commerce alone has a 50% impact on the
economy of the country. The simple regression model is given by y = 40.3 + (–0.8) X.
So, all the results reiterate that challenges of e-commerce are vital and are the main
impediments for the effective implementation of e-commerce in the country, Nigeria. So,
if they are controlled and addressed, major percentage of bottle necks in the country wise
implementation of e-commerce will be cleared.
Also, the when the opinion of the operators regarding the impact of challenges on the
economy of the country is tested using regression analysis, the model is obtained as
Y = 53.5 + (0.7) X.
This model has resulted in very minimal r-square value. This value could be because
of the minimal number of operators collected for data collection.

6 Conclusions

In the group of customers, majority are educated and the young. So, most of them have
raised their voice against the challenges of e-commerce, they are facing in their
transactions over internet. Also, the probable impacts of these impediments on the
economy of the country are also mentioned. Form the analysis, it is accepted fact by the
customers that internet shopping is more preferred to traditional because of its ease of
access and huge collection. At the same time, it is equally important to note that the
percentage of the people who could not complete the internet shopping task successfully
472 H.U. Khan and S. Uwemi

is around 64%. This reflects the status of quality of services prevailing in the country and
demands immediate attention of the concerning authorities.
Also, it is mentioned by many researchers that the factors, trust on e-commerce, its
usage frequency and its level of satisfaction are very much interrelated and increasing the
former one can obviously increase the latter ones (frequency of internet usage and the
level of satisfaction). The version of the researchers is supported by this analysis of the
opinion of customers regarding the security and trust. In addition to security issues,
privacy issues are also highlighted as the prime set of challenges by the respondents. All
the respondents revealed (90.0% and 10.0% strongly agreed and agreed) that security and
privacy issues are the considerable challenges of e-commerce businesses in Nigeria. This
result explains how much enormous is the problem of security and privacy over internet
usage in Nigeria.
On the other hand, operators are asked whether the consumers encountered technical
problems during ordering their on-line purchase. Majority of the operator agree that
(50.0% and 30.0% of the operators agreed and strongly agreed) customers sometimes
encountered technical problems during ordering their on-line purchase, while 10.0% did
not agree with this. This version of the operators coincides with the versions of customers
that not even 50% of them are unable to complete the online transaction successfully.
The correlation and regression analysis revealed interesting points about the
challenges of e-commerce and the impact of e-commerce on the economy of the country.
From the value of high negative correlation, which is obtained from the version of
customers, it can be stated that the more the challenges encountered by the customers
during the operations of e-commerce, less will be the impact of e-commerce on the
economy of the country. This means that the challenges encountered in the development
process of online technology are not just hurdles for the spread of e-commerce but are
impediments for the growth of economy. But the correlation calculated from the version
of operators got a minimal value. This positive minimal value could be because of the
less number of operators considered for the study. The r-square value obtained through
regression analysis also reiterated that the challenges encountered in the process of
accessing internet attribute to 50% variation in the impact of e-commerce on the
economy of the country.
So, all the results reiterate that challenges of e-commerce are vital and are the main
impediments for the effective implementation of e-commerce in the country, Nigeria
(Apulu and Ige, 2011). So, if they are controlled and addressed, major percentage of
bottle necks in the country wise implementation of e-commerce will be cleared.
On the whole, it can be inferred that the “issues affecting the usage of Information
and communication technology in businesses are electricity, lack of infrastructure, poor
services from internet service providers, illiteracy, lack of government and bank support
are the key issues that are inhibiting Nigeria’s small medium sized enterprises”.

6.1 Business application


This research reveals the e-commerce operators some of the reasons why consumers are
reluctant in using e-commerce services and facilitate to make appropriate changes. It
gives the operators a better understanding of the consumers’ fears and needs, therefore
adjusting their service deliveries to meet the consumers’ expectation.
It can also be deduced that given the required attention, will better the services and it
will have the potential to make a huge impact on the economy of the developing
What are e-commerce possible challenges in developing countries 473

countries. Apart from these, the study also created a consciousness to the government and
operators of e-commerce about the challenges of e-commerce and how these challenges
impact the utilisation of e-commerce.

6.2 Lessons learned


The findings from the research so far show that Nigeria is progressively getting ready for
e-commerce, although internet infrastructure in the country is growing at slow pace and
the payment systems in the country is still facing challenges in this path.
It has been observed that there are various challenges affecting the adoption of
e-commerce in the developing countries. In order to resolve these challenges, many
issues need to be put in place by the government in order to encourage the operators for
effective adoption.

6.3 Limitations
The limitations of this work are that the respondents are limited – both consumers and
operators, with consistent internet access, thereby leaving out the vast population of
citizens those are not consistent users of the internet. Furthermore, the survey is confined
to Nigeria and hence the results may be different for other developing countries. Future
research works can consider this limitation and extend the study by involving more
number of operators.

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What are e-commerce possible challenges in developing countries 479

Appendix A

Consumers online survey


(see online version for colours)
480 H.U. Khan and S. Uwemi

(see online version for colours)


What are e-commerce possible challenges in developing countries 481

(see online version for colours)


482 H.U. Khan and S. Uwemi

(see online version for colours)


What are e-commerce possible challenges in developing countries 483

(see online version for colours)


484 H.U. Khan and S. Uwemi

Appendix B

Interview questions for e-commerce operators


Operators interview questions
Section A
1 Name of company
2 Years in operation

Section B
Using the scale of preference 1 to 5 whereby 1 is strongly disagree, 2 is disagree, 3 is
neither agree or neither disagree, 4 is agree and 5 is strongly agree.
Please tick the preferred option from below.
3 Customers are concerned about security on ecommerce? Strongly disagree
Disagree Neither agree or neither disagree Agree Strongly agree
4 Reduced costs on transaction, marketing of ecommerce? Strongly disagree
Disagree Neither agree or Neither disagree Agree Strongly agree
5 Cost in setting up ecommerce equipment? Strongly disagree Disagree Neither
agree or neither disagree Agree Strongly agree
6 Do you think that the application of e-commerce will increased over the years in
Nigeria? Strongly disagree Disagree Neither agree or neither disagree
Agree Strongly agree
7 Do you agree that e-commerce has its advantages over traditional methods?
Strongly disagree Disagree Neither agree or neither disagree Agree
Strongly agree
8 Do you agree that e-commerce will eliminate middleman, thereby dropping cost?
Strongly disagree Disagree Neither agree or neither disagree Agree
Strongly agree
9 Infrastructural challenges when implementation e-commerce business in Nigeria?
Strongly disagree Disagree Neither agree or neither disagree Agree
Strongly agree
10 Security and privacy issues e-commerce business in Nigeria? Do you agree that
e-commerce will eliminate middleman, thereby dropping cost? Strongly disagree
Disagree Neither agree or neither disagree Agree Strongly agree
11 Do you agree that e-commerce will eliminate middleman, thereby dropping cost?
Strongly disagree Disagree Neither agree or neither disagree Agree
Strongly agree
12 Do you require government promotion on e-commerce in Nigeria?
Strongly disagree Disagree Neither agree or neither disagree Agree
Strongly agree
What are e-commerce possible challenges in developing countries 485

13 The introduction of cashless policy will boost the e-commerce business in the
country. Strongly disagree Disagree Neither agree or neither disagree
Agree Strongly agree
14 Cashless policy will increased utilisation of consumers e-commerce transaction.
Strongly disagree Disagree Neither agree or neither disagree Agree
Strongly agree
15 Cashless will help promote e-commerce business in the country. Strongly disagree
Disagree Neither agree or neither disagree Agree Strongly agree
16 Cashless policy will drive development and modernisation of our payment system.
Strongly disagree Disagree Neither agree or neither disagree Agree
Strongly agree

Section C
Using the scale from 1 to 5 whereby 1 is very poor, 2 is poor, 3 is moderate, 4 is great
and 5 is very great. Please tick the option of your choice.
17 Are government has done a doing a great job on issue of promotion of e-commerce
in the country? Very poor Poor Moderate Great Very great
18 As operator is online trade is better than traditional trade? Very poor Poor
Moderate Great Very great
19 Has the ecommerce platforms been able to help improve your level of business
transactions? Very poor Poor Moderate Great Very great
20 Are customers happy with your service concessions? Very poor Poor
Moderate Great Very great
21 Do you think that the application of e-commerce has increased will over the years in
Nigeria? Very poor Poor Moderate Great Very great
22 Is cashless policy a great enabler for e-commerce in the country? Very poor
Poor Moderate Great Very great

Section D
The scale of 1 to 5 will be used whereby 1 is very dissatisfied, 2 is dissatisfied, 3 is
neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, 4 dissatisfied and 5 very satisfied.
Please tick the option of your choice.
23 As an operator are you satisfied with the promotion on e-commerce in the country?
Very dissatisfied Dissatisfied Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied Satisfied
Very satisfied
24 Consumers are satisfied e-commerce domain in terms of cost? Very dissatisfied
Dissatisfied Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied Satisfied Very satisfied
25 Are consumers satisfied in terms of trust about e-commerce in the country?
Very dissatisfied Dissatisfied Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied Satisfied
Very satisfied
486 H.U. Khan and S. Uwemi

26 Consumers’ awareness level is low one-commerce in Nigeria. Very dissatisfied


Dissatisfied Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied Satisfied Very satisfied
27 Are consumers satisfied in the area of security and privacy shopping online?
Very dissatisfied Dissatisfied Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied Satisfied
Very satisfied
28 Consumers sometime encounter technical problems during ordering their on-line
purchases? Very dissatisfied Dissatisfied Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied
Satisfied Very satisfied
29 Operators satisfy with the cashless policy? Very dissatisfied Dissatisfied
Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied Satisfied Very satisfied

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