Vartotojų elgsena elektroninėje prekyboje privatumo paradokso kontekste

Abstract

In e-commerce, consumer data is necessary for products purchase and payments, as well as it contributes to sellers understanding consumer behavior better, is used for marketing purposes, and gaining a competitive advantage. For three-quarters of Lithuanians, the right to data protection is as important as freedom of expression, however, they often tend not to take actions that protect their data and privacy, and might easily disclose data in order to experience effortless shopping, without devoting sufficient time and attention to read the information regarding data collection and privacy. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), emerging data leakage scandals spotlight consumers’ attention to data protection and can impact their behavior, changes of habits when purchasing goods or services online. Therefore, the aim of the article is to analyze consumer behavior in e-commerce in the context of the privacy paradox. Methods of scientific literature analysis, comparison, synthesis, generalization, quantitative survey were used to achieve the aim. The results of the study show that most respondents feel safe when shopping online. The majority of consumers do not read the privacy policy. The main reasons not to read it are the too-long text of the privacy policy and consumers reluctance to take time to do that. While maintaining privacy is important to the respondents, nearly a third of consumers take no action to protect their privacy. If there are requests to disclose more information in e-commerce than is necessary, it can cause mistrust. Most users tend to disclose data after assessing the benefits and potential risks. The benefit they would like to get most for data disclosure is a discount. The results also revealed that personalized offers are important to consumers. Users are more likely to disclose contact and demographic data. In conclusion, consumers' attitudes towards their privacy are not entirely in line with their behavior. It is recommended for e-commerce sellers to provide an abbreviated, structured privacy policy and to avoid using the "Accept all cookies" button when asking to accept cookies. Sellers, when request consumers for a certain data, should offer benefits, e.g., discount, special offer, make more use of user data to implement personalization, focus more on the analysis of collected data. It is recommended to strengthen investment in technologies that ensure data security in order to increase trust in e-commerce.