Potential consumers in the United Kingdom apparently prefer the comfort of face-to-face transactions to an interface.

Reuters polled 26 British firms selling everything from books, videos, and music to advertising and travel bookings in a two week period and found 42 percent of those firms said electronic commerce was misunderstood as being unsafe.

"Customers' perception of card security and vendor trustworthiness" remains the biggest obstacle to doing business on the Internet, said Marc Holt, managing director of WALES direct, a virtual-only shop selling Welsh goods.

Many respondents who cited user ignorance as a key to unlocking e-commerce pointed out that revealing financial details using a secure browser is no less secure than using the phone or fax, which are widely used in commerce. Computer engineers stressed that new secure software developed in recent years is "nearly impossible" to hack through, making phones and faxes "in some cases, less secure," one respondent said.

But ignorance was two-sided. A few respondents said firms lacked technical expertise necessary to facilitate e-commerce.

"Firms tend not to have technical representation at strategy meetings, although they will happily involve advertising agencies," said Bobby Williams, technical director at Anchor Computer Systems. "Thus, [they are] missing out on technical opportunities for strategic advantage."

(c) Reuters