Europeans Embrace Christmas Net Shopping

Visits to retail websites boomed at Christmas as nearly 33 million Europeans shopped the Internet. This is according to the latest study released this week from Jupiter MMXI. Of all the nations monitored, Germans and Britons were the heaviest users of online retail sites.

A comparison of activity in December 2000 with the same month in 2001 shows the growth in popularity of online retailing with most countries experiencing an increase of more than 40% in the number of unique visitors to retail websites. Jupiter believes that this means audiences to retail websites are growing faster than the increase in the overall Internet population across Europe.

Individual sites turned in a range of individual performances though. The findings reveal that Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.fr reached more than 10% of the Internet population in Germany, the UK and France. France is the only country where three sites (Fnac.com, Alapage.com and Amazon.fr) have more than 10% reach each. Other countries have generally one clear leader. In the UK, traditional high street retailers, such as Argos.co.uk, Comet.co.uk and Whsmith.co.uk, were very popular for Christmas shopping. In December 2001, Jupiter's data shows that BOL.com, Johnlewis.com and Marksandspencer.com made it into the top 10 retail sites.

Not only retail sites benefited from this Christmas spirit. Europeans are increasingly using electronic greeting cards sites to keep in touch with their friends and family. In this sense, Bluemountain.com is popular across Europe but local sites such as Egreetings.com in the UK, Epost.de in Germany and Carteexpress.com in France also increased their audience.

Commenting on the results, a Jupiter analyst said, 'Online retailers experienced a real growth in the usage of the sites in the run up to Christmas, which shows just how Europeans have come to accept the Internet as part of their lives. Online retailers report a successful Christmas period, which Jupiter MMXI have projected would be worth Euro 2.9 billion in Europe, an increase of 71% from 2000. The challenge for retailers is to keep customers loyal by staying in touch with them and convincing them to keep using their sites. Retailers cannot afford to rest on the success of Christmas.'

The survey was based on interviews about Internet behaviour and attitudes with panels totalling 50,000 Europeans in the UK, France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, and Norway.

All articles 2006-22 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.