Thirty-three per cent of Brits put trust in online shopping

Tuesday, April 12, 2011 - 09:52 by Graham Miller

A study has found that roughly a third of all UK consumers would rather use safe shopping online than high street outlets if they had a choice between the two.

Research by the Payments Council under its Pay Your Way initiative, has concluded that a quarter of shopping sprees in the UK now occur online and that this would indeed be higher if public opinion is brought to bear.

The road miles saved by each person who shops online rather than heading to their high street or out of town shopping centre, rack up to around 6,800 miles per year, indicating that the reduction in the environmental impact is significant.

According to the study, the average person partakes of safe shopping online about 22 times a year, with seven of these events consisting of buying literature and media, while three instances see them buying groceries to be delivered.

The mileage which consumers would clock up going to collect the products they buy online themselves would see them on the road for many hours and result in much more damage being done to the environment as a result.

The study found some well established facts, including the prevalence of online shopping among those aged between 20 and 30, where almost half would shop online rather than heading to a bricks and mortar retailer.

The over 70s showed that they are not as technophobic as stereotypes might have you believe, with a fifth of those in that age group saying they like online shopping above all else.

Pay Your Way campaign spokesperson, Sandra Quinn, said that the internet allows us to buy goods from further afield than we can on the high street, saving us time, money and effort in the process.