Several studies were conducted to determine the demographic characteristics of adopters and non-adopters of online shopping. Swinyard and Smith (2003) showed that online shoppers were younger (less than 24 years old) than the non-online shoppers in the United States. Meanwhile, Rudolph et al. (2004) found that buyers in Switzerland were older than non-buyers, with 53% of buyers between 24 and 44 years old, and 53% of non-buyers between 13 and 24 years old. Lokken et al. (2003) compared online buyers and non-buyers in terms of age and showed that the former were at least 36 years old. Teo (2006) further disclosed that the age bracket of online shoppers in Singapore were between 26 to 65 years old. Men tended to be engaged in online shopping more than women (Rudolph et al., 2004; Teo, 2006). Women were primarily not engaged in online shopping because they perceived higher product and financial risks towards online shopping (Dillion et al., 2014).
According to Donthu and Garcia, income is the discriminating variable between adopters and non-adopters. The former tend to be wealthier and had more disposable income (Rudolph et al., 2004; Swinyard and Smith, 2003; Teo, 2006). Higher educational attainment (at least college graduates) of the adopters offers an explanation of such higher disposable income (Swinyard and Smith, 2003). Online shoppers were also Internet and computer savvy, and they spent more time on their computer and on the Internet (Clemes et al., 2014; Rudolph et al., 2004; Swinyard and Smith, 2003).
Lastly, there is evidence that suggests that non-shoppers had a higher perception on the increasing complexity of Internet shopping than online buyers (Soopramanien and Robertson, 2007). The technical know-how of finding things over the online shopping website, unavailability of credit cards, unavailability of Internet access at home, and lack of information about how to shop online inhibit online purchase (Lokken et al., 2003; Rudolph et al., 2004; Swinyard and Smith, 2003). Thus, technical knowledge and access may explain the non-use of online shopping.