Abstract
The study examined the characteristics of internet shopping mall sites including on-line market places and integrated internet stores from a perspective of consumer protection. Specifically, the study investigated 1) whether sufficient information is provided on the internet shopping mall sites, 2) whether shopping mall sites abide by internet advertising principles, and 3) specific examples of consumer misleading potentialities from internet shopping sites. Further, on-line market places and integrated internet stores were compared based on their informativeness and potential consumer misleading factors. Total 50 shopping mall sites were analyzed for examining the types of information provided and consumer misleading factors. To verify study questions, descriptive statistics were used. For comparison between on-line market places and integrated internet stores, Chi-square test and independent-sample t-test were employed. The results of this study were as the following: First, not a few of the internet shopping mall sites did not provided important information such as safety and warrantees. Second, important disclosures were not noticeable on the web pages and distracting factors were frequently used. Third, integrated internet stores were desirable compared to on-line marketplaces based on informativeness and consumer misleading potentialities. As the result of this study, internet shopping malls need to advised to provide sufficient information and reduce potential misleading factors.
