Their work was published in the March 2003 edition of International Journal of Consumer Studies titled "Comparing online and non-online shoppers." The experiment was conducted at a university located in the Southeastern United States with 130 faculty and staff members completing a web-based survey that attempted to determine the benefits of online shopping as perceived by online consumers and concerns that non-online consumers had about shopping on the Internet.

Online shoppers indicated their top reasons for shopping online were convenience and access to detailed product information while non-online users suggested that they preferred to speak directly to a retailer and actually see the product. They also feared having difficulty with returns. Both online and non-online consumers expressed concern for security issues. The study also revealed that online shoppers were younger and more computer literate than non-online shoppers.

Halbert said, "Understanding why some consumers use the Internet to make purchases and others do not is becoming a very popular topic in research today. The study was very interesting and will hopefully be beneficial to others attempting to understand consumer buying behavior."