Over 4.4 million UK adults bought products over the internet during Christmas 2002, spending a total of â‚Ź753 million (£503 million), according to a new study by Continental Research.
Preliminary findings from the
Winter 2003 Internet Report show that the number of people shopping online over the festive season has increased by almost three million since 1999.
Nonetheless, the fact that 77% of usual internet users did not make a web purchase at Christmas shows that many consumers are reluctant to join the e-commerce revolution. Only 16% of web users expressed anxiety about giving personal financial details online and the report speculates that it is a perceived need to see items before buying that is proving the major obstacle to online shopping.
