Conference Board: Trust grows in online transactions

The Conference Board reported today an increase in trust by consumers when conducting financial transactions online.

Trust levels among Internet users for online transactions have improved from a year ago (fourth quarter 2001). Now, more than 33 percent express trust that their online financial transactions are safe, up from 27.5 percent a year ago. Consumers also expressed a greater degree of trust when purchasing products online. One-fourth trust that their personal information will be safe when purchasing products online, up from 21.9 percent a year ago.

Some other interesting findings from the report:

• Only 33.6 percent of U.S. consumers have never been online, down from 34.7 percent.
• Currently, 37.4 percent of users go online daily, up from 33.7 percent a year ago.
• Of those who go online daily, 60.5 percent have made an online purchase in the last three months, down from 62.3 percent a year ago.

If we do some quick math (based upon 210 million consumers in the US 18 years or age or older) with a few other assumptions from the data, approximately 57 million consumers have made an online purchase in the last three months. (See: Census Data) The full report is available for purchase.