Ignore 'Homeless' Surfers At Your Peril 14/07/00 "Homeless" surfers, i.e. Internet users who are online from locations other than home, account for 10% of all European consumers according to recent findings from Forrester Research. This online segment is important not only for its size (one-third of Europe's total online population) but also because it looks and acts differently from "home" surfers. These findings were extracted from Forrester's Technographics (R) 2000 European Benchmark Study, a survey of 17,500 European consumers. In the Brief "Homeless Surfers Won't Surf From Home", Forrester found location to be a key determinant of Internet users' behaviour and activity. 37% of home surfers shop online, versus 12% of "homeless" surfers. Differences also exist between different types of "homeless" surfers: those who are online from work are much likelier, more than 50%, to purchase and make financial transactions than those who are online from elsewhere (mostly students). The greatest disparities between these two groups exist when comparing chatting online, using free Web-based email, and playing games online. According to William Reeve, Group Director of Data Products at Forrester BV, "For companies starting to sell and market online, overestimating Internet usage and, thus, the potential of online shopping, is a dangerous pitfall. `Homeless' surfers, as we call them, are significantly less likely to shop online than users who go online in the comfort of their own home. Other common activities, like online banking, are also much rarer in this group. Making up 30% of the Internet population, 'homeless' surfers form a sizeable segment that deserves special consideration in any rigorous marketing strategy."