AOL MediaSpace UK

AOL research into the e-commerce market has once again highlighted rising trends in online shopping continuing unabated. Increasing confidence in the Internet as a transactional medium has further dented the attractiveness of the traditional High Street with some interesting results:

• Almost half of respondents now say they spend less time and less money on the High Street after starting to shop online.
• Growing confidence has seen fall in 'mixed mode' buying (researching online and buying offline or vice versa), consumers are becoming more and more comfortable completing the entire process online.
• The number of AOL users shopping online has grown 61% against 38% for the UK as a whole and they now shop online more often than the UK average.


• AOL users' appetite for shopping via the Internet can be seen clearly in the run up to Christmas 2006. AOL users spent £600 million in this period compared with £300 million for the same period in 2005.

The study also highlights AOL's unique strengths in the e-commerce marketplace. Compared to the main UK portal competition, AOL users are more likely to shop online for lifestyle purchases such as small and large home appliances, home furnishings, garden and DIY equipment, flowers, chocolates and gifts as well as magazine subscriptions, a picture that perfectly illustrates AOL's enviable position as the UK's leading mainstream, family web portal.

The survey is based on a representative online panel of 6,000 Internet users and full results of the study can be downloaded here.