Will B2C E-commerce Developed in One Cultural
Environment be Suitable for Another Culture: A
Cross-Cultural Study between amazon.co.uk (UK) and
dangdang.com (China)
Qi-Ying Su
Information Systems & Computer Applications,
University of Portsmouth
1-8 Burnaby Road, Burnaby Terrace, Portsmouth, UK
Tel: 0044-(0) 23 8284 6447
Joanna.Su@port.ac.uk
ABSTRACT
In an era of seemingly e-everything e-commerce is changing
the way people do business and impacting shopping habits.
Increasingly this change has an international dimension in both
trans-national transactions and exporting e-commerce business
models from one culture to another. Typically this last element
has involved exporting Western e-business models to the rest
of the world. However, it is unclear if an e-commerce business
model developed in one cultural environment would be suitable
for another culture. This paper attempts to explore this question
by investigating two cases: amazon.co.uk in the West (UK) and
dangdang.com in the East (China). In addition, differences
between countries may be due to deep embedded cultural
aspects, differences in infrastructure and business environment
or a mix of these.
The study in this paper draws upon secondary data, primary
interview data and survey data of user practices. Amazon.com
is probably one of the most written about e-commerce cases
and there is a much secondary data to support an investigation.
Dangdang.com is less well know and covered in the literature
(at least in the West) so face-to-face interview data is used to
develop the case study. To understand user practices the study
uses survey data, focusing on selected groups in Beijing (China)
and Portsmouth (UK).To help investigate and analyze the two
cases this paper draws upon Hofstede’s cultural works,
particularly the individualism vs. collectivism cultural
dimension.
For the case studies, different cultural aspects and differences
in the infrastructure and business environment are identified.
Differences in user practices and the environment seems to
indicate that e-commerce business models suitable for the West
may not be totally suitable for the East.
Key Words
Cross-cultural; Individualism vs. collectivism;
Business-to-customer (B2C) e-commerce
1. INTRODUCTION
According to Chaffy (2002) we are living in an era of
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236
Carl Adams
Information Systems & Computer Applications,
University of Portsmouth
1-8 Burnaby Road, Burnaby Terrace, Portsmouth, UK
Tel: 0044-(0) 23 8284 6447
Carl.Adams@port.ac.uk
“e-everything”. In the late 1990’s the start of the E-commerce
era, a proliferations of dot.com companies emerged. Using
Turban et.al’s (2004) definition of e-commerce as: “E-
commerce describes the process of buying, selling, or
exchanging products, services, and information via computer
networks, including the Internet.”(p.4). We saw a proliferation
of new business, new business processes and new ways of
doing business in buying and selling. This e-era of global
interaction means that e-commerce business and technology
developed in one cultural environment would increasingly be
applied in other cultural environments. However, it is unclear
how suitable e-commerce business and technology would
translate across cultures.
There are several different types of EC, such as
“Business-to-business (B2B) refers to e-commerce are
businesses or other organizations; Business-to-consumer (B2C)
refers to the e-commerce model in which business sell to
individual shoppers.” (Turban, 2004, p.7). This paper focuses
on B2C e-commerce development in China and the UK, two
markedly different cultural environments.
1.1 B2C E-commerce Development in
China compared with the West
In 1993, Professor Wang Ke from the Chinese Academy of
Social Sciences first explained the concept of e-commerce in
China. At that time, some scholars and experts were worried
that the development of e-commerce would affect traditional
retailing and wholesale industries, eventually leading to higher
unemployment rates (He, 2000).
In April 1997, the first online bookstore-Xinhua bookstore was
opened in Hangzhou, China. Unfortunately, the bookstore
closed with no sales after one year. On March 6, 1998, the first
online sale in China happened, when the Beijing Century
Intercom Technology Company sold its first item over the
Internet (He, 2000).
By early 2000 only 9% of Chinese Internet had made purchases
online, this had increased to 31% at the end of 2000 and 37.8%
in 2001 (CNNIC, 2002). This compares to 59% of European
Internet users purchases goods online during November 2001
to April 2002 (GfK, 2002). China has a relatively small
proportion of Internet retail sales compared with the West
(Wang, 2002).
He (2000) states to develop e-commerce in China, several
aspects should be considered: first, the population of personal
computer users; second, information infrastructure plays an
important role in the growth of e-commerce. He also identifies
other important lessons we should learn from the West
e-commerce development. The first is online payments. For
China, this support does not only mean technology or
regulation, but also how to stimulate customers to adopt the
advantages of online payment mechanism, such as credit card
payment. The second is the support provided by distribution
and delivery channels. Although there is no comparable
distribution and delivery company like UPS or FedEx in China
to perform national delivery functions, there are a lot of
potential to develop distribution channels and resources in
China. Actually, the development of e-commerce will allow
these distribution channel resources to be fully exploited.
Table 1: 1997-2004 Internet Users in China (Unit: Million)
1997 1998 1999
Computer Host 0.299 0.542 1.460
Internet users 0.620 1.175 4.000
Source: CNNIC (China Internet Network Information Center at http://www.cnnic.net.cn)
As discussed, e-commerce technologies used in China is
typically below the average global level, for instance China’s
actual online sales and purchases are much lower than United
States, Brazil, Germany and Japan (Tan & Wu, 2004;
eMarketer, 2004). However, although China’s B2C
e-commerce development is lower than West, it still has the
potential to dominate the online shopping industry (Interfax,
2004). This comparison is important when considering
e-commerce use, such as in the case studies described late.
Other differences may be due to cultural differences. The
following sections will introduce individualism vs. collectivism
cultural dimension, and then will examine consumer choice and
behaviour in individualistic/collectivistic cultures. Then the
research is described starting with a survey methods in this
paper of consumers’ decision-making in
individualistic/collectivistic cultures, consumers’ attitudes to
online shopping and then the in individualistic/collectivistic
cultures, comparison of the cases studies between
Amazon.co.uk and Dangdang.com.
2. INDIVIDUALISM VS. COLLECTI-
VISM CULTURAL DIMENSION
There are many different definitions about culture. In this paper,
Hofstede’s definition is used who describe culture is as “the
mental programming-software of the mind” (Hofstede, 1991,
p4). From Hofstede’s point of view, the word culture refers to
national culture, which is the collective programming of the
mind acquired by a country (Hofstede, 1991, 2001). Hofstede’s
study covered IBM employees in 72 countries, producing more
than 116,000 questionnaires from 1968 to 1973. Many
questions were about values (Hofstede, 2001). Hofstede
summarized four dimensions of culture: Power Distance (refers
to the distance of individuals in a hierarchy.); Uncertainty
Avoidance (refers to the degree to which a society tries to
control the uncontrollable.); Individualism vs. Collectivism
(refers to the relations between individual and his/her family or
fellows.); and Masculinity vs. Femininity (refers to the
distribution of roles between genders.) (ibid).
2.1 Individualism vs. collectivism (I/C)
The I/C constructs have been discussed in many contexts in the
social sciences, which include philosophy, anthropology,
sociology, management, political science, economics, and
237
Major Internet players not only provide information services to
consumers and small and mid-sized businesses, but also
become a driving force behind the e-commerce economy.
1.2 Internet users in China
Chinese Internet users are increasing day by day. Table1 shows
the report from CNNIC (2004), Chinese Internet users are
increasing so fast from 0.62 million in 1997 to 87 million in
2004. Although China has the great number of Internet users,
the national Internet coverage is relatively low. A report from
National Bureau of statistics of China, Internet users in China
is only 6.2% of population comparing with 71.1% in the United
States (www.srats.gov.cn).
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
6.500 10.020 16.130 25.720 36.300
16.900 26.500 45.800 68.000 87.000
psychology (Triandis, 1995). According to Hofstede,
Individualism refers to the ties of individuals in one society
being loose, so that everyone needs only to look after himself
or herself and his or her immediate family. Collectivism as its
opposite refers to the close relationship in societies which are
integrated into strong, cohesive groups from birth through
people’s lifetimes, in order to protect them in exchange for
unquestioning loyalty (Hofstede, 1991). Triandis (1994) used
the terms idiocentric (who selects mostly individualist
solutions) and allocentric (who selects mostly collectivist
solutions) to analyze the individual level that correspond with
individualistic and collectivistic cultural levels. He argued all
of us have both individualist and collectivist tendencies and the
difference is individualist selves, attitudes, values and
behaviours in one culture being probably higher than in others.
Hofstede’s work has been very influential and given a basis for
further investigation. Mead (1998) emphasized the strengths of
Hofstede’s cultural dimensions are unique and significant, and
no one has done the research covering so many people.
Especially I/C cultural dimension is unique in cross-cultural
studies that summarize the differences between individualist
and collectivist on decision-making, personality and customer
behaviour. National cultures influence people to make
decisions relying on different kinds of information (Han &
Shavitt, 1994). Individualistic and collectivistic characteristics
are the main cause of the differences between national cultures
(Zandpour & Harich, 1996).
Culture affects all stages of consumer decision-making (Engel,
Blackwell & Miniard, 1995). I/C culture dimension influences
consumer choice and consumer decision-making (Hofstede,
1998). According to Hofstede, people in collectivistic cultures
generally consult family or friends when they make decisions,
for example, go shopping.
2.2 Consumer choice behaviour in
individualistic/collectivistic cultures
Until recently, the impact of culture to consumer behaviour has
studied by some researchers. Engel, Blackwell & Miniard
(1995) state culture affects all stages of consumer decision
making. Hofstede (1998), Triandis (1995), Shweder (1990),
Miler, Bersoff & Harwood (1990) explore the impact of
individualistic culture and collectivistic culture to consumer
choice and consumer decision-making.
“The individualism vs. collectivism culture dimension
influences consumer choice and consumer decision-making.
Decisions on consumption behaviour are rarely purely
individual. In collectivistic cultures, individual decisions will
be made in consensus with the group and there are no purely
individual decisions.” (Hofstede, 1998, p65)
In collectivistic cultures, people are more likely to consider
themselves in terms of group membership and place great
value on its welfare (Triandis, 1995). In contrast, in
individualistic cultures, people are more likely to think
themselves as autonomous and place a higher value on their
individual interests (Shweder, 1990). In collectivistic cultures,
non-life-threatening violations of social responsibilities are
likely to be viewed in moral terms, whereas they are viewed as
matters of personal choice in individualist countries (Miler,
Bersoff, & Harwood, 1990). In individualistic cultures,
personal goals tend to take priority over group goals; while in
collectivistic cultures, group goals are more likely to have
priority (Triandis, 1994).
Hofstede (1998) notes that in collectivistic cultures, members
of the inner and outer circle play different roles. Whereas in
individualistic cultural, few other people will influence
decision making, which is an individual activity. He
continues to note that culture influences buying behaviour, and
the cultural values influencing role behaviour is latent in the
more traditional countries become manifest when countries
modernize. Such as, parents play a more important role in
collectivistic cultures than they do in individualistic cultures.
Next section will introduce the method and methodology used
Table 2 Questionnaire survey in Beijing (China) and Portsmouth (UK)
Abbreviation (group) Sent
CNT (Teenagers in China) 140
UKT (Teenagers in the UK) 100
in this paper.
3. METHODS AND METHODOLOGY
USED IN THIS PAPER
In this research, a broadly interpretive approach has been used.
Neuman (1997) notes the interpretive approach expresses
social life based on social interactions and socially constructed
meaning systems, which can help researchers to understand
human thought and action in social and organizational contexts
depending on the cultural meaning system.
Both qualitative and quantitative methods used in this paper.
Qualitative data included face-to-face interviews, questionnaire
survey and secondary data; quantitative data was from
questionnaire survey or government reports.
3.1 Questionnaire survey and data
collection
In this study, a questionnaire survey was set up in Beijing
(China) and Portsmouth (UK). The questions covered details
about consumers’ decision-making, shopping habits and
attitudes to online shopping. The questions were derived from
Hofstede’s original survey.
Participants were drawn from 4 different cohorts in both
Beijing and Portsmouth. In Beijing, the questionnaire was
translated from English into Chinese. CNT participants were
from a very good school. Teachers were asked to organize their
students to answer the questionnaire in classes. In Portsmouth,
UKT participants were from a good school. Teachers were
asked to send the questionnaires to students directly and then
asked them to hand in. The similar methods used to the other
three groups: CNU vs. UKU, CNS vs. UKS, and CNR vs. UKR.
The answer rates were high (see table 2).
Received Percentage (%)
133 95
93 93

CNU (University students in China) 120 106 88

UKU (University students in the UK) 120 109 91
CNS (Company staff in China) 120 100 83
UKS (Company staff in the UK) 120 79 66
CNR (Retired people in China) 20 20 100
UKR (Retired people in the UK) 30 20 67
Total 770 660 86

The analysis for this paper examines the responses from similar
groups, i.e. teenagers with teenagers. The responses were
analyzed using an independent sample t-test method (95%
confidence interval of the difference) to identify any significant
differences. Collis & Hussey (2003) give the definition of t-test
as: A t-test is a parametric technique which compares
population parameters using two independent or related
samples drawn from two populations; data must be at least of
interval status (p244). As cross-cultural comparison, an
independent sample t-test is robust and suitable in this research.
3.3 Face-to-face interviews
Face-to-face interviews were conducted for the case study in
China. One interviewee was from Dangdang.com and another
from a technology company. They were both experts in this
field.
3.4 Secondary data
Secondary data was from government statistics and survey
results by other organizations or research institutions, and
information from websites have been cited in the paper.

3.2 Case studies The following sections will discuss this research findings and
Comparison case studies used to understand B2C e-commerce results.
development in China and the UK. Analyzing two real world
cases: Amazon.co.uk (UK) and Dangdang.com (China), they
were both successful cases in the UK and China.

238
4. NATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS:
SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES
National characteristics are changing in response of
technological development, such as, the relationship between
individual and family/friends. Internet development makes the
communication between people become easier and easier, such
as a person who can send e-mail to his/her family/friends or
chatting with others via Internet. This section will explore
national cultures’ similarities and differences from shopping
habits and attitudes to online shopping in individualistic
country and collectivistic country.
4.1 Shopping habits
In appendix 1, a significant difference was found for “buy
goods on impulse”. UKT was higher than CNT (P < 0.05) and
UKU was higher than CNU (p < 0.001). The result showed
teenagers and university students in the collectivistic samples
usually think about shopping more carefully than those from
the individualistic samples. A very highly significant difference
was found on “shopping for food by myself”. CNT was higher
than UKT (p < 0.001). According to the aspects of
decision-making suggested by Hofstede (1991, 2001)
indicating people in collectivistic cultures generally consult
family/friends and people in individualistic cultures usually do
independent/impulse when making decisions. Chinese teenager
sample showed individualistic cultural dimension.
Interestingly, according to the findings of above discussion, the
collectivistic sample contained individualistic attributes and the
individualistic sample contained many collectivistic attributes.
British samples from individualistic culture showed
collectivistic culture in consulting his/her close family before
making a decision and Chinese samples from collectivistic
culture showed individualistic culture in deciding everything
by himself/herself. This result supports Triandis’s (1994)
work, where he argues that everyone has both individualist and
collectivist tendencies. This research results showed that
national characteristics were similarities and differences both in
Beijing and Portsmouth. However, whether individualist or
collectivist, people still keep their own independent and
deep-rooted cultural characteristics today: individualistic
culture contains collectivistic culture and vice versa.
4.2 Consumers’ attitudes to online shopping
Appendix 2 showed the attitudes to online shopping by four
different cohorts in Beijing and Portsmouth. In this study, some
elements had been found influencing consumers’ attitudes to
online shopping in different cultural environments. The results
will give good suggestions and implications in developing
future cross-cultural e-commerce in different cultural
environments.
4.2.1 Age and occupation
In Q1, highly significances were found between CNT and UKT,
CNU and UKU, and CNS and UKS. UKT showed higher
frequency to access the Internet more than CNT; UKU showed
higher than CNU; however, CNS showed higher than UKS and
there was no significance between CNR and UKR. This result
shows young generation in the UK samples use Internet
technology more than those samples in China, however,
company staff in China use Internet more than the UK sample.
The results implied age and occupation influence people to use
technology. Suggestion: marketing managers should think
about the potential customers in developing cross-cultural
239
e-commerce in different countries.
4.2.2 Cost and convenient
In Q2, significance was found between CNT and UKT (p <
0.05), 63% of UKT and 34% of CNT thought shopping via
Internet was “cheap, fast, convenient”, however nearly 12% of
UKT and 32% of CNT showed they “didn’t know” online
shopping, and 17% of UKT and 10% of CNT showed “didn’t
like online shopping”; a highly significance was found between
CNS and UKS (p < 0.001). 37% pf CNS and 66% of UKS
thought online shopping was “cheap, fast, convenient”, 20% of
CNS and 7% of UKS showed “didn’t like online shopping” and
26% of CNS and 13% of UKS showed “didn’t know”. The
results showed UKU and UKS preferred online shopping much
higher than CNU and CNS. The cost and convenient of online
shopping will affect consumers’ choice behaviour in
e-commerce development. If consumers think the cost of online
shopping is cheaper than shopping directly and it is also very
convenient, they will prefer to go shopping online. So, price of
items/goods will be very important in developing e-commerce.
4.2.3 Items/goods
In Q3, a highly significant difference was found between CNU
and UKU (p < 0.001). 76% of CNU and 47% of UKU thought
“small value items, e.g. CD, books” would be suitable to buy
via the Internet, however, 23% of UKU and only 5% of CNU
thought “everything” would be suitable to buy via the Internet.
A significant difference was found between CNS and UKS (p
< 0.001). 44% of CNS and 40% of UKS thought “small value
items, e.g. CD, books” would be suitable to buy via the Internet,
however, 20% of CNS and 34% of UKS showed thought
“everything” would be suitable to buy via the Internet. The
results showed the suitable items/goods (books, CD) sold by
online shops influenced people to choose the shopping methods.
So, selling suitable items/goods, which can be accepted by
consumers, will win more and more consumers to choose
online shopping.
4.2.4 Payment methods
In Q4, a highly significant difference was found between CNS
and UKS (p < 0.001) and 55% of UKS thought the best
payment method for buying goods/items via the Internet was
“credit card”, however, 79% of CNS and 19% of UKS thought
the best method was “cash on deliver”. A significant difference
was found between CNR and UKR. 75% of CNR and 33% of
UKR thought the best method was “cash on deliver”, however,
0% of CNR and 40% of UKR thought the best method was
“credit card”. The results showed paying by credit cards was no
popular in China. So, in developing cross-cultural e-commerce,
managers should think about different payment methods in
different countries. Such as, ask customers to pay by
credit/debit cards in China like in the UK, it’s not reality.
4.2.5 Security, quality and credit
In Q5, highly significant differences were found between CNT
& UKT (p < 0.001), CNU & UKU (p = 0.001), and CNS &
UKS (p < 0.001). 27% of CNT, 75% of CNU and 76% of CNS
worried about “quality and credit”, however, only 6% of UKT,
7% of UKT and 3% of UKS worried about “quality and credit”;
67% of UKT, 63% of UKU and 57% of UKS concerned
“security”, however, only 8% of CNT, 16% of CNU and 4% of
CNS concerned “security”. The results showed Chinese people
concerned quality and credit of products more than British,
however, British people concerned security much more than
Chinese. In developing cross-cultural e-commerce, security,
quality and credit will be the main concerns of customers. If
consumers trust the security of the Internet, the quality of
products, they would like to choose online shopping.
Over all, for the samples investigated, consumers’ shopping
habits and attitudes to online shopping influence them to
choose online shopping. In development B2C e-commerce,
company staff in both countries are the main customers,
however, university students with high-level education will be
the potential customers. Consumers’s decision-making,
shopping habits and attitudes influence them to choose online
shopping. Age, occupations, price/cost of items/goods, security,
quality and credit affected their behaviour in choosing online
shopping. Therefore, for these respondents, in developing
cross-cultural B2C e-commerce, the West business model is not
totally suitable for the East or vice versa. Next section will
analyze real world cases to support this conclusion.
5. AMAZON.CO.UK (UK) VS. DANGD-
ANG.COM (CHINA)
5.1 Amazon.co.uk
Since Amazon.com is probably one of the most written about
e-commerce cases there is a much secondary data to draw up
for an investigation and comparison. For this study Amazon’s
own web site was used and the excellent book “Cases in
e-Commerce” by Rayport & Jaworski (2002). Amazon.co.uk is
one of five internationally focused websites operated by
Amazon.com (will introduce later). Amazon.co.uk is the
trading name for Amazon.com Int’l Sales, Inc. and Amazon
Service Europe SARL. Amazon.co.uk has its origins in an
independent online store, Bookpages, which was established in
1996 and acquired by Amazon.com in early 1998.
Amazon.com, is one of the Fortune 500 companies, and
arguably the “Earth’s Biggest Bookstore”, began operating in
July 1995 in Seattle, Washington. Jeffrey Bezos, is the founder
and chief executive officer. The original name was “Cadabra”,
but it made consumers confused (they seemed to confuse it
with “Cadaver”), so Bezos selected the name “Amazon.com”
instead and hoped consumers would remember the world
biggest bookstore as same as the world biggest river.
Amazon.co.uk, as one of the international websites operated by
Amazon.com, strives to be the world’s most customer-centric
company where customers can find and discover anything they
might want to buy online. There are many different categories
and products now sold on Amazon including Books, Music,
Video, DVD, PC & Video Games, Electronics & Photos,
Kitchen & Home, Toys and Kids, DIY & Tools and Garden &
Outdoors.
5.2 Dangdang.com
Dangdang.com, called the “Earth’s biggest online bookstore in
Chinese” (www.dangdang.com) or “China’s Amazon” (The
Economist, Aug. 23, 2003), was developed very much with an
‘Amazon’ approach or with “Amazon as Her Guide” (Chen,
2003). It was opened in November 1999 by a couple, Mrs. Yu
and Mr. Li, as the co-founders and co-presidents.
Dangdang pronounced Dong-Dong. The name includes three
main meanings: “ a Chinese expression, xiang dangdang, which
means excellent; an onomatopoeic coinage based on the sound
of a popular Japanese animated character, a cat named
Doraemon, who is known as xiao dingdang in Chinese.” (Chen,
2003).
240
In 1996, China had no equivalent database like Amazon. Mrs.
Yu and Mr. Li spent nearly 3 years to construct their own with
more than 210,000 titles before 1999 (The Economist, 2003)
Dangdang posted its first profit in December (Chen, 2003). It is
not easy for any e-commerce business to make money in China.
Now, there are about 800.000 unique visitors and takes up to
4,000 orders in Dangdang a day. It’s products books, DVDs,
CDs and other items, such as bags, gifts. In 2002, Dangdang
earned money 35,000,000 RMB, with gross margins of 25%,
closed to Amazon’s 28% (The Economist, 2003).
Now, Dangdang.com’s business covers 12 cities in China and
their presence is expanding.
6. ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS
Amazon.co.uk was a successful case of e-commerce in the UK
and Dangdang.com was also a successful case in China. Lets
consider their business models.
Marketing manager of Dangdang.com (A face-to-face
interview happened on Dec. 12, 2003), introduced: In
Dangdang.com developing, very much with Amazon as her
guide. Mrs. Yu, the co-founder of Dangdang.com and her
colleagues had studied a lot of experience from Amazon,
however, it was not easy to move the business model of
Amazon.com into to China under Chinese cultural and
technological environment. They had to consider China’s
characteristics and build up the policies, which were suitable
for Chinese customers and China market. He talked about this
from the following obstacles:
• Online payment plays a key role in e-commerce. In
China, payment validation from a bank takes about 10
days. If customers use credit cards there is a 5% service
fee for transaction with many restrictions. In Dangdang
business relatively few customers use credit cards, and
some send money orders via the post office. However,
most of dangdang’s customers prefer to use cash on
delivery. This compares to Amazon.co.uk, where most
customers use credit cards or debit cards.
• Logistics system. In China, the traditional logistic service
quality is not good enough for e-commerce.
Dangdang.com tries to run its business like Amazon,
however, it is without the plastic and U.P.S or FedEx
equivalent. So, Dangdang uses bicycle courier companies
in 12 cities to deliver its products and collect the cash,
which is then transfer to Dangdang.
• Government policy is very important in development
B2C e-commerce. China government supports
e-commerce, however, the social support systems are not
suitable to modify Amazon’s business model in the West
countries. So, dangdang has set up its own business model,
which is suitable to Chinese customers and Chinese
cultural environments.
• Management information system (MIS). Dangdang has
set up a relevant perfect management information system.
The customers’ information kept in Dangdang.com is safe,
so consumers do not worry about security here.
• Customer service. Dangdang has the policy to pick up its
products from customer’s home (office) directly without
pay if the customer is not satisfied with the quality of
products. Customers are happy with this method.
 Dangdang also has the policy as Amazon that customer
must return its products by post office during one week
after he/she receives the product.
Based on above case examined and the survey responses, three
main elements seem to influence B2C e-commerce
development in the two different cultural environments:
6.1 Individual requirements
Individual requirements here refer to those influencing
individual attitude, shopping habits. Such as individual age,
occupation and needs. For example Amazon bought Joyo.com
as its seventh website in 2004 (It’s a little bit regret to
Dangdang.com.), which means Amazon starts to enter China
Market. Language in Joyo’s website is Chinese, it’s suitable to
Chinese overseas, Chinese local people or those who know
Chinese. If amazon use English as computer language in China,
it will lost its market share and customers.
6.2 Technological development
Technology development here refers to the technology’s
reliability, security and quality. CNNIC (2001) survey reports
that 62.4% of respondents had not tried online shopping had
not done so because they lacked confidence in the security
systems of e-commerce sites.
6.3 Social support systems
Social support systems here refer to a social legal protection,
security systems and service in technology adoption/use. An
expert from a technology company (Face-to-face interview, 7
December, 2003) indicates that the two support systems are
necessary to develop e-commerce in China: social support
system, such as bank system and legal system; and credit rating
(individual and company), such as individual payment in time,
quality of products. He emphasized that the two systems are
very important in developing e-commerce, without the two
systems support, we can’t talk about e-commerce and future
m-commerce like West countries. This supports CNNIC’s
(2001) report that 47% of respondents had not tried online
shopping cited concerns about the quality of products.
Cultures influence individual requirements, technological
development and social support systems. The three elements
influence consumers’ attitudes and behaviour in adopting and
using technology (e.g. online shopping via Internet).
Conversely, technology adoption/use influence the three
elements and then affect national characteristics. So, West
business model will not be totally moved to the East or vice
verse in developing cross-cultural B2C e-commerce.
7. CONTRIBUTIONS
This paper contributes to both cultural theory and e-commerce
practice. Attributes of cultural theory are explored with a
survey of customers’ shopping habits and attitudes to online
shopping in Beijing and Portsmouth. Comparing real world
cases: Amazon.com and Dangdang.com. More up-to-date data
is analyzed to explore: will business model in the West be
suitable to the East or vice versa? In developing cross-cultural
e-commerce, West business model will not totally be used to
the East. By examining the I/C cultural dimension, the findings
may be applied to other individualistic and collectivistic
cultures and possibly other technologies. This research also
makes a significant contribution to e-commerce research in
different cultural environments. The research results hint at the
trend of B2C e-commerce development and its potential
241
markets. The research results provide indications and likely
give useful information for marketing managers: three elements
influence consumers’ attitudes and behaviour to choosing
online shopping. So, different strategies and services to
customers should be considered when developing future B2C
e-commerce which crosses cultural environments.
8. LIMITATIONS AND CONCLUSION
This paper has examined consumers’ attitudes to online
shopping in Beijing and Portsmouth and compared real world
cases: Amazon.co.uk and Dangdang.com, using the I/C cultural
dimension. The two cities are very different. The participants
are limited in Beijing and Portsmouth. To consider Beijing or
Portsmouth, as ‘one’ culture is misleading: there are likely to
be an array of different subcultures in both cities. Consequently
it is not possible to make generalized predictions from such a
small and limited sample. The questionnaire is designed
focused on issues about “shopping habits” and “attitudes to
online shopping”. This questionnaire survey might exist
“captive audience” which means listeners or onlookers who
have no choice but to attend (Ammer, 1997). The answers
might have differently if given a different environment, time,
and place with a different attitude. The data analysis method
used is an independent sample t-test with 95% confidence
interval. Language understanding might contain ambiguities
(For example Chinese students understand questionnaires in
English.). Finally, the time of two real cases compared was
controlled before August 2004 due to B2C e-commerce is
developing and changing rapidly in China.
The findings of this study have highlighted some cultural
differences for the groups in Beijing and Portsmouth by
examining consumers’ shopping habits and attitudes to online
shopping. In the Chinese sample, which is typically described as
collectivist, individualism attributes exist. In the UK example,
which is typically described as individualist, collectivism
attributes exist. However, there still exist cultural differences
between the two samples, such as: difference in online payment,
government policy, logistics system, security policy, customer
service, MIS, return products policy and language problem. It
is questionable if a western B2C e-commerce business model
will seamlessly move to China or vice versa. Although this study
has shown some contributions to both cultural theory and B2C
e-commerce practice, the research result will provide a useful
reference in developing cross-cultural B2C e-commerce.
Suggested future research will focus on different level
participants in different cities and different countries. In
developing B2C e-commerce, different marketing strategies
should be designed for different cultural environments.
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10. APPENDICES

Appendix 1 An independent sample T-test of consumers’ shopping habits in Beijing and Portsmouth
M M Sig M M Sig. M M Sig M M Sig
(CNT) (UKT) (CNU) (UKU) (CNS) (UKS) (CNR) (UKR)

z When you buy things, how often do

you … 2.42 2.71 .02 2.38 2.96 .000 2.39 2.56 .16 2.06 2.05 .97
buy goods on impulse? 1.98 2.01 .84 2.00 2.35 .01 2.40 2.55 .25 2.50 2.70 .62
have a list before you go shopping? 2.88 2.69 .11 2.36 2.81 .000 2.32 2.91 .000 2.73 3.11 .21
plan what you buy before you go
shopping? 2.45 2.22 .06 2.13 2.46 .01 2.33 2.53 .15 2.46 2.47 .99
compare prices or details in buying ‘small’
value items? 3.09 3.02 .63 2.88 3.29 .000 2.84 3.33 .000 3.24 2.95 .38
z compare prices or details in buying
‘bigger’ value items?
z 2.82 2.51 .04 3.46 2.58 .000 3.31 2.33 .000 3.25 2.80 .14
2.87 3.25 .01 3.04 2.83 .10 2.94 2.40 .000 3.38 2.90 .06
z I prefer to go shopping for … 2.59 2.74 .21 2.85 2.71 .26 2.78 2.34 .01 2.46 2.68 .54
food with my family or friends. 2.57 1.74 .000 2.10 2.24 .33 2.01 2.92 .000 1.64 2.37 .03
clothes with my family or friends. 2.31 2.21 .49 2.45 2.50 .74 2.61 2.69 .53 2.37 2.53 .67
presents with my family or friends. 2.53 2.37 .24 2.36 2.34 .91 2.51 2.75 .08 2.20 2.53 .37
food by myself.
clothes by myself.
presents by myself.
M=Mean; Sig.=significance

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 Appendix 2 Significant value for an independent samples T-test of attitudes to online shopping
M M Sig. M M Sig. M M Sig. M M Sig.
Questions
(CNT) (UKT) (CNU) (UKU) (CNS) (UKS) (CNR) (UKR)
Q1. How often do you access the Internet?
Q2. What do you think about online 3.56 4.79 .000 4.26 4.98 .000 5.11 4.36 .007 1.87 2.05 .75
shopping?
Q3. What things do you think would be 2.66 2.00 .012 1.97 1.74 .187 2.78 1.82 .000 2.67 3.00 .61
suitable to buy via the Internet?
Q4. What do you think is the best payment 2.57 3.48 .061 1.84 3.24 .000 2.59 3.66 .020 4.55 5.36 .44
methods for buying goods/items via
the Internet?
Q5. Do you have any concerns about 2.89 3.17 .056 2.82 3.00 .200 2.24 3.39 .000 1.92 2.87 .01
shopping via the Internet?
1.65 3.06 .000 2.36 2.95 .001 2.26 3.22 .000 1.80 2.21 .42

M=Mean; Q=question; Sig.=Significance

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