Global e-commerce usage increases

Friday, May 18, 2012 - 09:25 by Graham Miller

A new study, published by MarketTools, has looked at the way that consumers from the UK and around the world are taking to safe shopping online, with figures showing that the industry is still experiencing strong growth.

Over 3,000 people were polled as part of the report, with respondents pulled from 15 countries in both the developed world and emerging markets.

Eighty per cent of those questioned said that they indulged in some kind of online shopping activity on a weekly basis, whether that might involve actually purchasing a product or simply doing some research in order to establish key information about items.

Back in 2009, an equivalent study showed that weekly e-commerce usage was being adopted by just 62 per cent of people, which indicates just how significantly the market has expanded over the past three years.

Forty nine per cent of respondents said that they used e-commerce sites on a daily basis, which is significantly higher than the 26 per cent of people who made the same assertion in 2009.

When looking at e-commerce usage on a monthly scale in 2012, the survey found that 90 per cent of people carry out some kind of participation.

Of course simply browsing sites does not translate directly into making purchases via safe shopping online. When looking at transactions made, 20 per cent said that they bought something weekly, while 35 per cent went on monthly shopping sprees.

Interestingly, the fastest growing country for e-commerce usage was China, with 10 per cent of those questioned saying that they bought something every day and a 57 per cent slice stating that they shop online at least once a week.

Good customer service tools would endear particular e-commerce sites to consumers, with 57 per cent pointing to the availability of in-browser live help features, as being important to their experience.