The Impact of Financial Crisis on B2C e-Commerce

Abstract

Many experts believe that the global financial crisis in 2008 is the worst of its kind since the Great Depression in 1929. The crisis was started from housing market in the US and spread quickly into financial markets. It has had a ripple effect around the world and many other industrialized economies were troubled by its consequences and almost every industry has been influenced by its outcomes. Online retail (or B2C e-Commerce) as a part of retail industry was not immune from the financial crisis and its sales has a dramatic decline. In this paper it is found that 3 factors are main players which have impacted on online retail sales including: less credit available; increasing saving rate and decreasing consumption expenditures and falling consumer confidence and sentiment. Also by representing several figures and tables, factors affecting this trend such as age class, income and gender are discussed.

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iBusiness, 2010, 2, 193-200
doi:10.4236/ib.2010.22024 Published Online June 2010 (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/ib)
Copyright © 2010 SciRes. iB
193
The Impact of Financial Crisis on B2C
e-Commerce
Fateme Ghadami, Abdollah Aghaie, Morteza Mohammadkhan
IT Group-Faculty of Industrial Engineering, K. N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran.
Email: Fateme.ghadami@gmail.com, aaghaie@kntu.ac.ir, m.m.khan@kntu.ac.ir
Received October 13th, 2009; revised February 1st, 2010; accepted March 6th, 2010.
ABSTRACT
Many experts believe that the global financial crisis in 2008 is the worst of its kind since the Great Depression in 1929.
The crisis was started from housing market in the US and spread quickly into financial markets. It has had a ripple ef-
fect around the world and many other industrialized economies were troubled by its consequences and almost every
industry has been influenced by its outcomes. Online retail (or B2C e-Commerce) as a part of retail industry was not
immune from the financial crisis and its sales has a dramatic decline. In this paper it is found that 3 factors are main
players which have impacted on online retail sales including: less credit available; increasing saving rate and de-
creasing consumption expenditures and falling consumer confidence and sentiment. Also by representing several fig-
ures and tables, factors affecting this trend such as age class, income and gender are discussed.
Keywords: Financial Crisis, Online Retail, B2C e-Commerce
1. Introduction
The year of 2008 was not a good year for economy. In
this year many countries were troubling by financial cri-
sis. Many experts believe the crisis was started from hous-
ing market in the US and then was spread into financial
markets. Through this way many banks and financial
firms around the globe were affected by consequences of
the crisis.
The housing bubble in the United States grew up
alongside the stock bubble in the mid-90s. Increasing in
stock prices made unexpected wealth for people and they
started to spend this extra money. This led to the con-
sumption boom of the late 90s, with saving rate out of
disposable income falling from close to 5% in the middle
of the decade to just over 2% by 2000 [1]. This extra
money encourages people to buy better and bigger homes.
So it results in exceeding demand than supply because in
the short-run the supply of housing is relatively fixed.
This increase in demand triggered housing bubble and it
led to an increase in price. Therefore the house price
grew from 1992 to 2005 and it peaked in 2006. After that
by bursting the housing bubble, prices started to decline.
The signs of financial crisis appear by housing bubble
burst and drastic decline in house prices which were
started in 2007, and eventually with the failure, merger or
conservatorship of several large United State-based fi-
nancial firms it became prominently visible in September
2008. The crisis had a ripple effect around the world and
many other industrialized economies were troubled by its
consequences. It caused a deep recession and many be-
lieve the crisis is the worst of its kind since the Great
Depression in 1929.
Outcomes of the crisis are not just limited to financial
and housing markets. Its consequences have spread
around the world and affected almost all aspects of peo-
ple’s lives. For example it has several significant socio-
economic impacts such as:
Increasing unemployment rate: By incidence the fi-
nancial crisis, companies tried to reduce their expenses
so as a solution they cut the number of their employees.
Therefore the crisis resulted in increasing in unemploy-
ment rate.
Inflation or deflation: The crisis has had both infla-
tionary and deflationary effects in the world. It causes
people have less credit to finance their purchases so by
diminishing trades and decrease in demand, prices come
down. This situation is named deflation. On the other hand
to repel the crisis some governments injects money into
society. Sometimes this decision has inflationary results
as it caused increasing inflation rate in some countries
[2].
Moreover, the financial crisis has influenced major
industries such as auto manufacturers, health insurance,
tourism and etc. Another major industry which is influ-
enced by the financial crisis is retail industry. Retail in-

The Impact of Financial Crisis on B2C e-Commerce
194
dustry composed of 2 main sections: offline or traditional
retail and online retail (business to consumer or simply
B2C). In another point of view online retail is a kind of
e-Commerce which can be categorized under the IT in-
dustry. This paper is trying to investigate how the global
financial crisis in 2008 has affected online retail.
2. Background
Since the global financial crisis is a recent event, there is
no particular academic research about its probable effects
on e-Commerce, specially B2C e-Commerce or online
retail. There are just a few news websites or market re-
search websites which have performed researches related
to this topic. For example NYTIMES.com and Forrester
Research Inc. are two main websites which had some in-
formation about the impact of financial crisis on e-Com-
merce. According to [3] it was predicted the financial
crisis would not have any visible impact on technology
sector. It was expected jus Internet advertisement com-
panies that got much of their business from mortgage
brokers and some software companies which sell their
product to financial services companies would face trou-
ble. But after a while on October 2008 Wall Street Jour-
nal notified that the technology industry which had seemed
immune to the financial crisis, was squeezed because of
slackening demand and cutting costs to prepare for a
prolonged downturn [4]. Companies like Intel in hard-
ware sector and SAP in software sector have faced such
problems. Also, to reduce costs some other giant compa-
nies like Google, Yahoo and eBay have cut down the
number of their employees. Altogether, it can be said the
technology sector like other industries is affected by the
consequences of the financial crisis. Actually the crisis
has affected customer behavior in many ways. It has
changed customers’ buying priority.
3. Statistics and Analysis
Occurrence of financial crisis has a significant impact on
the US economy. Increasing unemployment rate and lack
of a strong financial resource for household have caused
their buying power has diminished and people are forced
to have a fundamental revision on their shopping way.
By comparing statistics from [5-10], it can be clearly
seen that online retail is affected by the crisis (Table 1).
In the first quarter of 2008 and before appearing crisis
signs, online retail sales was about $ 32.4 billion, a
growth of 13.4% respect to the same period time last year.
16.9% decline in online retail sales in the first quarter of
2008 respect to prior quarter was because of increasing
sales in the holiday season as there is in the 4th quarter of
2008 and 1st quarter of 2009. In the 2 next quarters it has
8.9% and 4.6% growth respect to same period in the last
year, a decreasing growth. Totally can be seen in 2008
online retail has a decreasing growth and in 2009 it
reached to an increasing negative growth. These statistics
show how the financial crisis has affected online retail
industry. It has caused a decline in overall growth rate for
the industry. There could be supposed several reasons for
the decline:
Online buyers have less available credit to finance
their purchases [11]. A consequence of financial crisis is
Credit Crisis. A credit crisis is a reduction in the general
availability of loans or a sudden tightening of the condi-
tions required to obtain a loan from the banks [12]. So
consumers are no longer to take equity out of their homes
to fund spending. Moreover less credit available causes
fewer credit cards issues. One important feature which
attract consumer to buy online is convenient use of credit
cards. Credit crisis has an effect on online buyers spend-
ing through credit cards.
Economic conditions have forced people to save more
than past [11]. According to [13] in the past 4 quarters
consumption expenditures had negative growth, in third
and fourth quarters of 2008 it had 4.7% and 5% decline
respectively and in the first and second quarters of 2009
with smoother decline it had 1.5% and 1.3% negative
growth respectively. Moreover saving rate has had a sig-
nificant growth rate in the same period (Table 2). It
reached from 2.2% in third quarter of 2008 to 5% in sec-
ond quarter of 2009.
Reduced consumption expenditures means decline in
spending by customer and increasing saving rate also im-
plies further decline. In these economic conditions people
try to do something which makes them feel more confi-
dent. With less job security and increasing unemploy-
ment rate they try to reserve a safe financial source for
hard times. This situation can be translated into difficult
times for retail industry. In a recession period online
buyers look for retailers who discount their products and
Table 1. Retail and online retail sales 2008 – 2009 [5-10]
Online Retail
Sales Percent Change From
Prior Quarter Online retail sales Percent Change
From Same Quarter a Year Ago retail sales Percent Change From
Same Quarter a Year Ago Online retail as a
Percent of Total
1st Q 2008 $ 32.4 billion
–
16.9% 13.4% 3.7% 3.4%
2nd Q 2008 $ 32.5 billion 0.5% 8.9% 2.3% 3.1%
3rd Q 2008 $ 31.6 billion
–
2.8% 4.6% 0.9% 3.1%
4th Q 2008 $ 37.1 billion 17.3%
–
5.5%
–
8.6% 3.8%
1st Q 2009 $ 30.2 billion
–
17.7%
–
5.7%
–
11.6% 3.6%
2nd Q 2009 $ 30.8 billion 2.1%
–
4.5%
–
10.6% 3.3%
Copyright © 2010 SciRes. iB

The Impact of Financial Crisis on B2C e-Commerce 195
Table 2. Consumption expenditures and saving rate 2008 – 2009 [13]
Percent Change From Prior Quarter
Quarter
Case 1st Q 2008 2nd Q 2008 3rd Q 2008 4th Q 2008 1st Q 2009 2nd Q 2009
Consumption
Expenditures 3.7% 3.9%
–4.7% –5.0% –1.5% –1.3%
Saving Rate 1.2% 3.4% 2.2% 3.8% 3.7% 5.0%
Consumer Confidence Index
Curent Reading: 54.1
Change: 6.7
Data Courtesy The Conference Board
Aug-
Feb-
Aug-
Feb-
Aug-
Feb-
Aug- Feb- Aug- Feb- Aug- Feb- Aug- Feb- Aug- Feb- Aug- Feb-
Aug-
150
140
130
120
110
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
00 01
01
02
02
03
03 04
04
05
05
06
06
07
07
08
08 09
09
☉
Copyright 2003 Market Harmonics
Figure 1. Consumer confidence index (CCI) 2000 – 2009
services. Those retailers who sell luxury brands and spe-
cialty products will damage more than others.
Other effecting factors are CCI and CSI indices. These
factors measure consumers’ attitude toward economy and
their own financial conditions and are indicators designed
to measure consumer confidence, which is defined as the
degree of optimism on the state of the economy that con-
sumers are expressing through their activities of saving
and spending [12] Based on Figure 1 CCI has sharply
declined through August 2007 to February 2009. It means
people became more pessimists about the economy. Also
CSI which is represented by Reuters/University of Michi-
gan Surveys of consumers has a similar trend. According
to the August report Consumers increasingly expect the
economy to improve in the months ahead even as they
report the worst assessments of their personal finances
since the surveys began in 1946. Although the economic
recovery is likely to have already started, consumers’
spending will remain in low gear for an extended period
of time. Director of the survey has said the growth of total
personal consumption expenditures at just 1.6% during
2010. The Index of Consumer Sentiment was 65.7 in the
August 2009 survey, just below the 66.0 in July and the
67.5 in last year’s August survey. The key August
change was in the job situation. Consumers believed the
unemployment rate was nearing its cyclical peak, al-
though most thought it would still increase to just above
10% [14].
4. Traditional Retail vs. Online Retail
Aforementioned reasons have caused online retail sales
to decline, though by referring to Table 1 and comparing
total retail and online retail, it can be inferred that traditi-
onal retail had a bigger reduction in sales than online ret-
ail. Several reasons could be supposed for this situation:
Online retail has attractive inherent features which are
inherited from electronic commerce. Online consumers
could easily buy everything they need ay any times in
any where they have connection to Internet. So availabil-
ity is an appealing characteristic of online retail (Figure 2).
Online shopping seems a less expensive way of buying.
Searching products online make online buyers avoid im-
pulse buying. Moreover they could use free shipping
offers so it save money even more. Also usually there are
many discount and bonus which are offered by retailer
websites. Moreover pure online retailers don’t have costs
such as store maintenance, tax and etc so they could pro-
vide cheaper products or services. Also by shopping
online, customers don’t pay for fuel or transportation
expenses.
Online buyers are typically wealthier and less affected
by the economy. Online buyers with household incomes
of $ 75,000 or more, represent the largest group of the
online buying population [11]. So recession does not
affect this group severely and they won’t change their
shopping habits intensely.
Copyright © 2010 SciRes. iB

The Impact of Financial Crisis on B2C e-Commerce
196
Disproportionate online spending by men will support
online sales. The male/female spending split is almost
equal online; this contrasts with offline, where women
are commonly held to account for roughly 70% of pur-
chases. The percentage of males who will shop less overall
is 18 percentage points lower than the percentage of fe-
males who will adopt the same attitude as a result of the
current state of the US economy [11].
Internet provides a comprehensive set of information
related to a particular product or service. This facility at-
tracts more people to shop online. They could conven-
iently use search engines to acquire information they
need. Since online buying has no switching cost, online
customer could freely use search engine to find what they
want. Internet helps online buyers feel more confident
that they are buying the right product to meet their needs.
Online shopping offers consumer and expert opinions
[11]. Product reviews are one of the features that clearly
distinguish the online experience from the offline one.
This type of content offers an extra boost of confidence
and will continue to attract consumers.
5. Studying New Trends among Online
Buyers after Financial Crisis
Financial crisis of 2008 has changed online buyers’ sho-
pping habits. Actually they are trying to adapt themselves
to new conditions. This adaptation has caused some new
special trends among buyers and consequently online
buyers.
New economic conditions have forced online buyers to
cut back considerably on their online purchases. Many
online consumers scaled down in holiday season of 2008.
Holiday season usually is a good time for online retail
industry but according to the results of surveys 70.8 per-
cent of online consumers have said they are planning to
spend less money holiday 2008 compared to past holiday
seasons [15]. The online Holiday Spending Survey was
conducted during the height of the worst economic crisis
in decades which has had a significant impact on con-
sumer confidence—a key driver in the consumer spend-
ing equation (Figure 3).
90.0
80.0
70.0
60.0
50.0
40.0
30.0
20.0
10.0
0.0
Figure 2. Consumer sentiment index (CSI) 2008 – 2009
Ye s
No
29%
71%
Figure 3. Are you planning to spend less money this holiday season than in past holiday seasons [15]?
Copyright © 2010 SciRes. iB

The Impact of Financial Crisis on B2C e-Commerce 197
The factors that directly affect 70.8 percent of online
consumer’s decisions to spend less 2008 holiday season
are: increasing prices of necessities (39.5%), lack of con-
fidence in the economy (30.6%), less money coming in
overall (14.1%), and decreasing home values and other
savings (Figure 4) [15].
Other significant contributing factors found in this
survey (unemployment, lack of annual bonus, and credit
line reduction) are closely tied to the effect the economy
has on consumer’s discretionary income.
When it comes to researching and purchasing 2008
holiday season, online shopping resources are gaining
ground on the traditional offline approach. 96.5 percent
of shoppers expected to do some purchasing online in
2008 holiday season. Survey results from the October 2007
Holiday Trends Survey compared to the recent Holiday
Spending Survey highlights that online consumers ex-
pected to purchase more online than last year. This holi-
day season, 55 percent of survey respondents expected to
purchase more than half of their holiday gifts online,
while only 45 percent had expected to purchase online
last holiday season—an increase of 10 percentage points
over a one year period (Figure 5) [15].
Holiday season of 2008 it was all about researching
the lowest price and finding the best value. Convenience
is secondary for most consumers. Online shoppers find
shopping and purchasing online appealing because it is
easier to compare and find the lowest price (37.4%), it
provides the convenience of shopping at anytime and
from anywhere (24.1%), it offers free shipping and return
policies (23.9%) and it provides online shopper to avoid
stressful crowds and parking (14.6%) (Table 3) [15].
0%
5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%
My credit line was reduced
Didn’t receive a bonus this yea
r
Unemployed
Value of my home and saving is reduced
Making less money this yea
r
Lack of confidence in the economy
Increse in prices (e.g. gas, food, necessities)
Figure 4. Why have you decided to spend less money holiday season of 2008? [15]
N
one Less than half Morethan half All
Holiday season of 2007 Holiday season of 2008
7%
7%
55%
45%
34%
46%
3.50%
2%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Figure 5. How much of your holiday purchasing do you expect to do ONLINE? [15]
Table 3. Which appeals to you most about shopping and purchasing ONLINE holiday season of 2008? [15]
Rank Reason Percent
1 Easier to compare and find the lowest price 37.4
2 Convenience of shopping anytime/anywhere 24.1
3 Free shipping offers and return policies 23.9
4 Avoid stressful crowds and parking 14.6
Copyright © 2010 SciRes. iB

The Impact of Financial Crisis on B2C e-Commerce
198
Savvy online consumers have used a variety of tech-
niques to save money in 2008 holiday season. The pri-
mary technique which 53.1 percent of online shoppers
used this holiday season to save money was sticking to a
budget to control impulse buying. Survey findings show
that consumers were taking the time to research and find
deals by shopping at discount or outlet stores (43.1%),
using shopping comparison Web sites (37.6%), and only
purchasing sale items (34.6%) (Table 4) [15].
Online consumers struggling in a weak economy con-
tinue to use the Internet to shop. 91 percent of online
shopper use Internet because researching products online
makes them feels more confident about their purchases.
Same percent of online buyers announce that comparing
prices online reassures them that they are getting the best
deal. Seventy-five percent of online consumers looked to
purchase from merchants that do not charge sales tax or
offer free-shipping.54 percent of online buyer said they
search for coupons and discounts online even if they plan
to shop offline. Another 37 percent of online consumers
used the Internet to purchase products because it helped
them avoid impulse purchases (Figure 6) [16].
Women ‘spend less’ consistently more than men
‘spend less’. Interestingly, a higher percentage of women
reported that they made an effort to spend less on dining
out (74%), entertainment (72%), and purchasing online
(55%) or purchasing in-store (69%) as compared to men.
Overall, the majority of consumers have spent less on
eating out at restaurants (69%), engaging in entertain-
ment outside the home (67%), purchasing consumer
goods and services online (47%) and in-store (63%) in
response to the tough economic times (Figure 7) [17].
Table 4. Which money saving techniques will you use in the next few months to save money on holiday shopping? [15]
Method Percent
Stick to a budget to control impulse buying 53.1
Shop at discount or outlet stores 43.1
Use shopping comparison web sites 37.6
Only purchase sale items 34.6
Use a low interest credit card and/or cash 15.5
Not giving gifts to people who received them last year (e.g. co-workers, service attendants) 10.1
Make items (i.e. crafts) 9.5
I use the internet to purchase products because it
helps me avoid impulse purchases
I search for coupons and discounts online even if I
plan to shop offline
I look to purchase from merchants that have no
sales tax and offer free shipping
Comparing prices online reassures me that I am
getting the best deal
Researching products online makes me feel more
cofident about my purchases
Disagree Neutral Agree
31%
37%
27%
19%
32%
54%
75%
7% 18%
91%
7%
2%
7%
2%
91%
Figure 6. How much do you agree with the following statements about your spending behavior in this tough economy? [16]
Overall
69%
Female Male
74% 66% 64%
67%72%
42%
47%55% 63% 59%
69%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Eating out
(i.e., dining at a
restaurant)
Entertainment
outside the home Purchasing online
(not including
food)
Purchasing in-store
(not including
food)
Figure 7. In the past 3 months, how has the current state of the U.S. economy impacted your money-spending on the folloing:
“I spent less” [17]
Copyright © 2010 SciRes. iB

The Impact of Financial Crisis on B2C e-Commerce 199
Another factor which affects online buyers’ behaviors
is their age class. According to the surveys people be-
tween 29 and 42 are most likely to delay making nones-
sential retail purchases in Q4 to conserve finances. These
people were also the most likely to agree that they had
tried to control fixed monthly costs such as utilities and
that they had trimmed back on vacation plans. On the
other hand older buyers—people older than 42—were
more optimist and they expected the economy to get
better in 2009. And when asked about specific changes
they had made in spending in the Q4, they indicated that
they took a practical approach to watching their budget:
They were more likely to cut back on fixed monthly
costs and conserve gas but were less likely to postpone
travel [18].
Consumer spending varies within different income
segments. Online buyers are wealthier and less affected
by the economy. Online buyers with household incomes
of $ 75,000 or more represent the largest group of the
online buying population. They make up more than 40%
of all online buyers—almost twice the number of those
with household incomes of $ 50,000 to $ 75,000. They
are also less affected by the economy than the average
consumer. This group makes an average of 10 purchases
per year, which is two more than the average online
buyer. Survey findings demonstrate that 37.7 percent of
consumers making more than $ 100,000 say they do not
plan to spend less this holiday season. Of these consum-
ers, 38.9% indicated “I don't feel the effects of the econ-
omy.” Whereas 22.4 percent of consumers making less
than $ 50,000 say they do not plan to spend less this
holiday season compared to past holiday seasons (Figure
8) [11].
5. Analysis
According to the statistics described above, it is obvi-
ously seen that online retail has encountered a big chal-
lenge during 2008 and still is straining to conquest it.
Recession, increasing unemployment rate and reduced
consumers confidence are factors that play roles in
growing the challenge. Although e-commerce has attrac-
tive features but it was not immune from the crisis. As
can be seen in Table 1 like other industries, retail indus-
try has been faced problem and its sales declined dra-
matically. In spite of these problems people still have
preferred online retail and it has a greater portion of their
shopping as compared with past year. There could sup-
pose several reasons for this trend. Online shopping seems
as a less expensive way to purchase things, it’s more
convenient, it makes people feel more confident about
the product and its price and by using online shopping
people avoid impulse buying. These factors altogether
cause people can save more money in these difficult
times.
One factor which affect saving trend is gender. Ac-
cording to the statistics women have had more serious
reactions to financial crisis relative to men. They have
decided to reduce their spending on different activities
such as dining out, entertainment, online shopping and
etc. On the other hand fewer men have made similar de-
cisions. It can be inferred women are more cautious about
events like economic turmoil.
Another factor affecting online consumer behavior and
their saving trend is their age class. Each age class has its
own preferential activities and try to cat back on other
doings. Younger online shoppers try to delay making non
essential retail purchases, control fixed monthly costs
such as utilities and trimmed back on vacation plans. On
the other hand older online shoppers try to cut down on
the fuel consumption of their car and purchasing non
essential retail items but they haven’t decided to post-
pone their travels.
Yes
22.40%
No
Less than $50,000 Between $50,000-
$100,000 Greater than $100,000
77.70% 72.10%
27.90% 37.70%
62.40%
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Figure 8. Are you planning to spend less money holiday season of 2008 than in past holiday season? [15]
Copyright © 2010 SciRes. iB

The Impact of Financial Crisis on B2C e-Commerce
200
Finally the last factor which influences online buyers’
behavior is income. It is obvious that more income re-
sults in more spending so those people, who have had
high income, have been affected less the others by the
crisis. On the other hand most of online buyers are
wealthier than other buyers and so it’s reasonable for
them not to spend less. As can be seen in Figure 8 higher
percentage of those people, who have less income, have
decided to spend less.
6. Conclusions
According to the results of data analysis presented in the
paper, financial crisis has impacted online retail industry
in a negative way. Three factors play roles in this way: 1)
lack of credit, 2) increasing saving rate, decreasing con-
sumption rate and 3) decreasing CCI and CSI indices. It
has caused online retail sales to decline but as have been
seen its impact on the online retail sales is more moderate
than offline retail sales. As described above e-commerce
have inherent features which have resulted in attracting
consumer to buy online in these difficult times. Moreover
the crisis caused online buyers changed their buying hab-
its. Several factors have affected this trend such as in-
come, age class and gender. Online retailer should con-
sider these affecting factors and use a proper marketing
method for each group to make profit.
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