The second annual Global Interactive eCommerce Report from Taylor Nelson Sofres, published this week, brings good news to e-tailers everywhere.
Growth in online sales amongst global internet users has increased by 50% in the past year according to the survey which involved 42,742 people across 36 countries. In the UK, the proportion of net users has increased from 27% to 34% in the past year and users in Germany have risen from 28% of population to 36%.
17% of users said that they planned to buy online in the next six months (in Japan this figure rises to 42%) and the most popular items bought online are books, CDs, clothes, groceries and holidays/travel. The rise in grocery shopping online reflects the efforts of leading supermarkets over the past 12 months to develop cheap and convenient online shopping alternatives.
The USA is still the country which leads when it comes to online shopping, 33% of all internet users buying online and this figure has grown from 27% in 2000.
Only 6% of those surveyed claimed that price was a factor in whether or not they chose to shop online suggesting that convenience is the greatest benefit and conflicting slightly with earlier reports which suggested that cut-price offers online would boost ecommerce revenues (see Forecasts).
