20 Million Online Shoppers in Germany

According to the findings of the Online Shopping Survey (OSS), conducted by NFO Infratest and Enigma GfK, around 20 million Germans, i.e. more than one in three, have made at least one online purchase in the last twelve months. As many as one in five people are regular online shoppers. The most frequently ordered items are books, clothing, CDs, tickets for the theatre, cinema and concerts, computer software and computer games.

Over a fifth of the population aged between 14 and 69 makes regular Internet purchases, while a further 15 per cent shops online at least occasionally. Last year, Ebay was the largest online marketplace with more than 10 million customers, followed by Amazon with eight million. These were streets ahead of the next contenders, who all recorded between three and four million online shoppers - Quelle.de, Otto.de, Tchibo.de and Conrad.de.

The survey investigated 29 product categories and service areas - from books (8.2 million online purchasers) and clothing (5.6 million) to larger furniture items (300,000) and cars (240,000).

40 per cent of Internet users who buy books (also) buy them online. Almost as high is the proportion of online shoppers in the following categories: air travel, hotels/motels, hire cars and computer software/computer games. More and more women are taking advantage of the benefits of online shopping, even though the majority of Internet users are still men. Clothing, food and toiletries/cosmetics in particular are bought by women online. Large e-tailers like MyToys, Schlecker.de, Tchibo.de and Weltbild.de are benefiting from this trend, with a predominantly female customer base.

In February 2003, a total of 1,010 German Internet users aged between 14 and 69 were asked via telephone about Internet usage, the role of the Internet when it comes to shopping, online banking and the disadvantages of online shopping.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.

• GfK Germany
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