In its recent report, Falling Through the Net: Toward the Digital Inclusion, The Department of Commerce concluded that digital inclusion in the US is rapidly increasing and that groups that have traditionally been digital ''have-nots'' are now making dramatic gains (www.ntia.doc.gov 2000). However, the report also drew attention to the noticeable divide that continues to persist between people with different demographic characteristics such as age, income, education, ethnicity, and marital status. Although the issue of the digital divide has received extensive coverage, reports and discussions generally highlight only one aspect of the divide; the number of people who are digitally connected and have access to the Internet. What has received inadequate attention is the divide that separates people based on how they use the Internet. From both business and public policy perspectives, this divide has far reaching consequences.The introduction of the Internet into our social system has raised theoretical questions and public policy concerns. One substantive theoretical question relates to factors that explain different uses of the Internet. For example, why are some people more likely to use the Internet for making a purchase and some less? And from a public policy perspective it would be valuable to identify people who are less likely to use the Internet.Taking an interdisciplinary approach, this paper explores relations between demographic variables and the likelihood of making a purchase over the Internet. Understanding these relations can facilitate the development of consumer profiles that can be used to segment and target customers. Similarly, these profiles can provide public policy officials with the information they need to reach people who can benefit from policies that encourage the use of the Internet.Thus, the objective of this paper is to empirically test relations between demographic characteristics and the likelihood of purchasing over the Internet.