Significant Rise in E-commerce Activity in Ireland 18/10/2000 The Irish Internet Association (IIA) has released the findings of its Fifth Online Survey of Internet Usage. The results show that most Irish Internet users are now e-commerce active - 62% of participants made a purchase online in the past year. Consumers are also spending more online compared to this time last year with 40% of respondents spending between £100 and £500 in the past 12 months. 88% of online purchasers are happy to repeat the experience while of those who have never bought online 47% intend to do so in the next six months. The survey also identifies a growing interest in WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) with 32% of participants owning or intending to buy a WAP phone. However participants were less interested in accessing the Internet through their TV with 67% of participants having no interest at all in buying a set-top box. The survey results also reveal an interesting trend towards online/permission marketing with 61% of participants now subscribing to e-mail magazines or updates. This highlights a real opportunity for Irish companies to send targeted product/service/company messages to consumers through email. According to survey results, Irish Internet users have mixed attitudes towards banner advertising. While 73% of Internet users notice banner advertising at least occasionally, only 16% of participants find them useful. Indeed a staggering 42% of Irish users find banner advertising to be mostly annoying. According to Mark Henry at the IIA, "The Irish Internet user is changing. As they become comfortable with using the net they are happy to spend money online and to access it on the move by mobile phone. While they are open to receiving useful information from companies by email, they are less interested in banner ads which are of little or no relevance to them. " Frances Buggy, chairwoman of the IIA welcomed the continuation of the trend towards an improving balance between male and female users, rural and urban users and the increase in home Internet usage - however she expressed some concern that "there is still a worrying lack of affordable access to Internet usage in Ireland among those who have not had third level education and are outside the higher earning occupations". The online survey was completed by 2,260 Irish Internet users who visited the IIA website, www.iia.ie, in July and August2000.