UK remains Europe’s e-commerce capital

Thursday, December 17, 2015 - 10:47 by Graham Miller

A new report from Eurostat has found that consumers in the UK are still the most ardent supporters of safe shopping online, outdoing other countries across the continent in terms of e-commerce use, according to the Daily Mail.

80 per cent of British adults have used the internet to make purchases, which is far higher than the European average of 50 per cent. And there are some nations, including Italy and Bulgaria, where online shopping is still a long way from taking off in earnest.

75 per cent of consumers in the UK have made a purchase via safe shopping online at some point in 2015 and the biggest selling items fall into the categories of household products and also entertainment and toys.

The interesting thing about the UK’s dominance of the EU’s e-commerce market is that web-based shopping habits are developing across all age groups, with the majority of people aged between 65 and 74 having made online purchases in the past. Only six other countries in Europe can boast a similar uptake of online shopping among their older citizens.

75 per cent of people who have not used the internet to make a purchase in the past 12 months said that their main reason for shunning e-commerce sites was that they preferred the process of buying from bricks and mortar outlets. Twenty five per cent said that they were not convinced that online shopping sites would keep their private information safe.

Luckily, over two thirds of those who have used e-commerce sites this year said that they were happy with the quality of the experience overall, showing that customer satisfaction levels are impressive in the e-commerce sphere. And there are no signs of the UK losing its position at the top of the online shopping tree.