Russians do not consider electronic money real

    The Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) published the results of an all-Russian study entitled “Financial Behavior on the Internet: Practices, Problems, Expectations” , which was compiled from a survey of 6,000 respondents in 200 cities of Russia. The objective of the study is to find out what the project participants think about online money and online shopping, as well as present thematically structured thoughts and arguments of the project participants (in a special discussion group ).

    The survey showed that people's trust in virtual money is still small: only 28% of users consider electronic payments to be reliable and safe, while 45% hold the opposite position.

    The survey also showed that the Yandex.Money system is much more popular than Webmoney. In addition, further research revealed that users consider electronic money not quite real, and therefore spend it more easily.

    The share of users who bought any goods or services via the Internet is only 15%. Among them, the most popular types of payment are payments for using a mobile phone (32%) and the Internet (29%), for goods and for downloading music, videos, books (30% each). One fifth paid for various Internet services (21%), and another 18% paid for software and computer games. From 12% to 15% paid for books, information and participation in online games, 10% bought tickets for a train or plane, for a theater or for concerts. Other types of online payments were made by less than 10% of respondents who make purchases on the Internet.

    When paying for goods, services and other payments, the majority of respondents used bank cards (25%) and Yandex.Money (22%). Only 16% used the WebMoney system, 8% each used Money@Mail.ru and Mobile Wallet. Other online payment methods were used much less frequently.

    According to the results of the online discussion, the researchers identified several main advantages and disadvantages of electronic money. The respondents attributed the advantages to anonymity of payment, efficiency, and the ability to quickly calculate with a client or employee “without regard to geographical location”. Among the shortcomings are high commission, legal insecurity, a limited list of goods and services available for online money, the inability to use online money when making purchases in real time.

    According to the participants in the discussion, electronic money is perceived differently than real banknotes: “As soon as money flows from a pocket into an electronic wallet, it ceases to be money.” Such perceptions, according to respondents, give rise to at least two consequences. First, they prefer to pay with “virtual” money for services (payment for the Internet and mobile communications), rather than for real goods. Secondly, virtual money is easier to spend.

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