Factors preventing to engage in cross-border online shopping: An application on consumers

With the entrance of internet to people?s daily lives, individuals began to carry on their commercial activities like searching information about products/services, placing consumer comments, or giving orders with the help of the medium. From this aspect, it brought a new dimension to consumers? way of shopping. Besides affecting the consumers? shopping routine, businesses? marketing practices, understanding they have no chance to ignore the medium, are also affected. As an outcome of the usage of internet in shopping activities of consumers, the issue of using internet in cross-border commercial activities came to stage. Although individuals adopt purchasing goods and services from internet as the time passes, cross-border online shopping is still a concept that most of the consumers hesitate to engage. Thus, this research aims to find out about the factors that prevent the consumers to engage in cross-border online shopping. Understanding the factors that are negatively affecting the consumers to buy online at international web stores is important to help international marketers in terms of designing more effective international web sites that target foreign customers. In the research, the academicians in the Faculties of Economics and Administrative Sciences throughout the Turkey are reached via online questionnaires. The 329 usable questionnaire forms are analyzed in order to find out the factors that are negatively affecting the consumers? attitudes and intention towards cross-border online shopping. Suggestions are developed for the firms that would like to reach Turkish consumers via their internet stores from foreign countries.