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By Sally Watson, 15 September 1999 00:20

NEWS The proliferation of 'kitemark' schemes on the Internet could have a damaging effect, instead of building consumer confidence, according to Alan Stevens, editor of Which? Online. The warning comes after the Global Business Dialogue on Electronic Commerce (GBDe) announced plans to set up its own 'trust scheme' for Web sites, which meet the group's criteria for privacy and security. Plans for the initiative were revealed during GBDe's conference in Paris this week. The group, which includes companies like AOL, Time Warner and Walt Disney, hopes its seal of approval will encourage consumers to trust ecommerce and change public perception of Internet insecurity. "There is a danger with the proliferation of schemes that are supposed to give consumers confidence, that they will have the opposite effect. Consumers will get very confused with the various schemes," Stevens said. "There's clearly a case for different schemes for different purposes," he added. "But I think we need to look for some sort of rationalisation in the area of codes of practice to make sure that consumers can understand what's going on." In June, the UK Consumers Association set up its own trust mark scheme - Which? Web Trader (see http://www.silicon.com/a31133 ). According to Chris Charrington, analyst at research house Frost & Sullivan, online kitemark schemes won't work unless consumers trust the organisation which sets them up. "If it was something which was linked to the UK government I might trust it - and I'd be inclined towards trusting established brand names like those in the GBDe," he said. But Charrington added that it is much more important for online retailers to establish a good brand name than to have a logo attached to their site: "Spending time building up your brand name is the key to success."