UK consumers top online bargain hunting charts

Monday, September 3, 2012 - 13:41 by Graham Miller

A wide ranging study into the nature of safe shopping online, has revealed various facts about the global market, amongst which it is reported that Brits are the best at using the web to find a bargain.

Analysis carried out by SumAll, covered 500 million e-commerce transactions and looked at the US, UK, EU, Canadian and Australian markets in depth.

The study went so far as to pinpoint the best days of the week to shop for a bargain via safe shopping online, with Tuesday being identified as the key time period when savings of up to 4.81 per cent can be made.

Saturday is the worst day to shop for a cut price deal, which is perhaps unsurprising, given that this is when most people will have time to shop online.

Analysts found that when it comes to the time of year that will let you save the most money, November is at the top of the charts, thanks to pre-Christmas offers being promoted by retailers. This means that the January sales are not as important online as they can be in the high street.

The savings made by consumers of various nationalities were quite distinct amongst the five groups studied.

Brits came out on top, with an average saving of 5.51 per cent, making them the world's best online bargain seekers.

Americans were in second place, with average savings of 4.28 per cent, while at the bottom of the pile behind the EU and Canada, was Australia, where people save on average just 1.65 per cent.

The study does at least show that it is possible to make savings via safe shopping online wherever you happen to live, although being in the UK, will put you at the best advantage because the e-commerce market is so competitive.