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British Shop Differently Online To Americans
10/2/01



Some interesting differences in online shopping habits have emerged from new BMRB and Initiative Media Futures research released recently. The British appear to be far more cautious in their cyber-purchases than the Yanks, tending to select purchases from a far narrower range of products.

Looking at the main trends from the research it is clear that over the last year:


  • The most popular item bought online in the US was clothing, purchased by more than a third (36%) of all shoppers.
  • Only 8% of UK shoppers bought clothes online though.
  • Books were equally popular purchases in the US and UK, acquired by 27% of shoppers in both countries.
  • Flowers, chocolates, leather goods and mobile phones were all popular choices for US shoppers.
  • However, the number of UK shoppers buying these items was negligible.
  • Average online expenditure in both markets was similar, with UK shoppers spending slightly more (£142) than the Americans (£139).
  • American consumers were far less concerned about the dangers of shopping online than Britons.


In terms of the major fears and frustrations of both nationalities, the data also reveals distinct differences. The major fear for UK shoppers appears to be the reliability of the delivery, whilst, for Americans, the greatest concern is that their credit card details are not used fraudulently. The major frustration for UK shoppers is the excessive download time sometimes incurred on the Internet (this infuriated a third of all UK online shoppers). This emerged as only a minor concern for US shoppers however, affecting a mere 5% of respondents.

The BMRB and Initiative Media Future research was carried out on adult US and UK samples during 1999.