A major impediment to B2C success is...the concept 'B2C'

ABSTRACT

It's been over a decade now. We've forgotten how slow the adoption of consumer Internet commerce has been compared to other Internet growth metrics. And we're surprised when security scares like spyware and phishing result in lurches in consumer use.This paper re-visits an old theme, and finds that consumer marketing is still characterised by aggression and dominance, not sensitivity to customer needs. This conclusion is based on an examination of terms and privacy policy statements, which shows that businesses are confronting the people who buy from them with fixed, unyielding interfaces. Instead of generating trust, marketers prefer to wield power.These hard-headed approaches can work in a number of circumstances. Compelling content is one, but not everyone sells sex, gambling services, short-shelf-life news, and even shorter-shelf-life fashion goods. And, after decades of mass-media-conditioned consumer psychology research and experimentation, it's far from clear that advertising can convert everyone into salivating consumers who 'just have to have' products and services brand-linked to every new trend, especially if what you sell is groceries or handyman supplies.The thesis of this paper is that the one-dimensional, aggressive concept of B2C has long passed its use-by date. Trading is two-way -- consumers' attention, money and loyalty, in return for marketers' products and services, and vice versa.So B2C is conceptually wrong, and needs to be replaced by some buzzphrase that better conveys 'B-with-C' rather than 'to-C' and 'at-C'. Implementations of 'customised' services through 'portals' have to mature beyond data-mining-based manipulation to support two-sided relationships, and customer-managed profiles.It's all been said before, but now it's time to listen.

REFERENCES

• 1: The detailed assessments underlying this paper are available on the Web from http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/EC/ICEC06-WkingPapers.html
• 2: URLs accessed 15 May 2006, unless otherwise stated
• 3: Clarke R. (1996) 'Issues in Technology-Based Consumer Transactions', Proc. Conf. Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals (SOCAP), Albert Park, Melbourne, 26 September 1996
• 4: Clarke R. (1998a) 'Direct Marketing and Privacy', Proc. AIC Conf. on the Direct Distribution of Financial Services, Sydney, 24 February 1998
• 5: Clarke R. (1998b) Conference Summary and Commentary on 'Electronic Commerce: Net Benefit for Australia?', Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd, November 1998
• 6: Clarke R. (1999a) 'Key Issues in Electronic Commerce and Electronic Publishing' Proc. Information Online and On Disc 99, Sydney, 19--21 January 1999
• 7: Roger Clarke, Internet privacy concerns confirm the case for intervention, Communications of the ACM, v.42 n.2, p.60-67, Feb. 1999 [doi>10.1145/293411.293475]
• 8: Clarke R. (1999c) 'The Willingness of Net-Consumers to Pay: A Lack-of-Progress Report', Proc. 12th International Bled EC Conf., Slovenia, June 1999
• 9: Clarke R. (2000) 'What Must E.C. Deliver Now?' Panellists' Statements for a Plenary Panel Session of the 13th International Electronic Commerce Conference, Bled, Slovenia, 19--21 June 2000
• 10: Clarke R. (2001) 'Trust in the Context of e-Business' October 2001, republished in Internet Law Bulletin 4, 5 (February 2002) 56--59
• 11: Clarke R. (2002) 'e-Consent: A Critical Element of Trust in e-Business' Proc. 15th Bled Electronic Commerce Conference, Bled, Slovenia, 17--19 June 2002
• 12: Clarke R. (2004) 'Origins and Nature of the Internet in Australia' Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd, January 2004
• 13: Clarke R. (2005a) 'The Past, Present and Future of B2C eCommerce' Statement for a Panel Session in Sydney, Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd, September 2005
• 14: Clarke R. (2005b) 'Privacy Statement Template' Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd, December 2005
• 15: Clarke R. (2005c) 'About the Privacy Statement Template' Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd, December 2005
• 16: Clarke R. (2005d) 'Evaluation of Google's Privacy Statement against the Privacy Statement Template of 19 December 2005' Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd, December 2005
• 17: Clarke R. (2006a) 'A Pilot Study of the Effectiveness of Privacy Policy Statements' Proc. 19th Bled Electronic Commerce Conference, Bled, Slovenia, 5--7 June 2006, URL accessed 3 July 2006
• 18: Clarke R. (2006b) 'Google's Gauntlets' Comp. L. & Secy Rpt 22, 4 (July-August 2006) 287--29, URL accessed 3 July 2006
• 19: Clinton H. (2006) 'Senator Clinton Calls for New Privacy Bill of Rights to Protect Americans' Personal Information' U.S. Senate, 16 June 2006, URL accessed 3 July 2006
• 20: CPLF (2006) 'Consumer Privacy Legislative Forum Statement of Support in Principle for Comprehensive Consumer Privacy Legislation' Consumer Privacy Legislative Forum, 20 June 2006, URL accessed 3 July 2006
• 21: DCITA (1999) 'Australia's e-Commerce Report Card' Aust. Dept of Communications, Information Technology & the Arts, May 1999
• 22: DCITA (2002) 'Current State of Play - April 2002: % of persons 16 years and older purchasing online', Aust. Dept of Communications, Information Technology & the Arts, November 2002
• 23: DCITA (2004) 'Information Economy Index -- 2004', Aust. Dept of Communications, Information Technology & the Arts, 2004
• 24: DCITA (2005a) 'The Current State of Play -- 2004', Aust. Dept of Communications, Information Technology & the Arts, 2005
• 25: DCITA (2005b) 'The Current State of Play', Aust. Dept of Communications, Information Technology & the Arts, November 2005
• 26: DIST (1998) 'Electronic Commerce in Australia', Dept of Industry, Science & Tourism, April 1998
• 27: Economist (2005) 'Demon in the machine: Privacy laws gain support in America, after a year of huge violations' The Economist 1 December 2005
• 28: Hoffman D. L. & Novak T. P. (1997) 'A New Marketing Paradigm for Electronic Commerce', The Information Society, Special Issue on Electronic Commerce, 13 (Jan-Mar.), 43--54
• 29: NOIE (2004) 'The Current State of Play -- Online Participation and Activities -- December 2003' Australian National Office for the Information Economy, January 2004
• 30: OECD (2000) 'Guidelines for Consumer Protection in the Context of Electronic Commerce' Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development, Paris, March 2000
• 31: Peppers D. & Rogers M. (1993) 'The One to One Future: Building Relationships One Customer at a Time' Doubleday, 1993
• 32: Rosencrance L. (2000a) 'Amazon Loses 2 Partners Over Privacy Policy' Computerworld, September 18, 2000
• 33: Rosencrance L. (2000b) 'Amazon.com's Privacy Policies in Spotlight Again, U.S., U.K. Probes Urged' Computerworld, December 11, 2000
• 34: UN (2003) 'Guidelines for Consumer Protection' United Nations, New York, 2003
• 35: E von Hippel, Lead users: a source of novel product concepts, Management Science, v.32 n.7, p.791-805, July 1986 [doi>10.1287/mnsc.32.7.791]
• 36: Wells M. (2005) 'Have It Your Way' Forbes 14 February 2005

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  J. Computer Applications
  J.1 ADMINISTRATIVE DATA PROCESSING

General Terms:
Economics, Human Factors, Management, Security

Keywords:
adoption, eCommerce, impediments, marketing, privacy, privacy policy statements, terms of contract