More and more people are turning to the internet to buy products, although many online retailers are still failing to make profits, according to new research by Jupiter Media Metrix. The study looked at the most developed retail markets in Europe, the UK, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and France and found that the number of consumers making purchases online is increasing and those already using the Net to buy products are spending more money.
The longer consumers have been using the Net, the more likely they are to have begun shopping. Around 40% of users of the internet for more than two years have bought goods online; just 11% of users of less than a year had done so. At the same, the amount spent via the web increases as time passes, painting a rosy picture for etail companies. In Sweden, where half the population is already online, the average spend is ₏1,043; in France, where just 18% of people use the Net, the average falls to ?520.
Jupiter believes that losses experienced by business-to-consumer sites so far are mainly due to market consolidation and the difficulties some dotcoms have had in securing new rounds of funding.
