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E-commerce becoming more popular in Europe
08-06-2006
by Charlie Taylor

Around one in five European internet users have paid to download music from the web, according to a new study.

InSites Consulting's survey of 80,000 internet users from Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK, Germany, France, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Italy and Spain, indicates that more internet users are increasingly prepared to pay for music online, with iTunes being the most popular site for downloading tunes across the continent. In fact, outside of Italy and Spain, iTunes is the leading online music store in Europe.

Germany, Denmark and the UK have the highest number of users on the continent who have paid to download tracks from websites. In Germany, 42 percent of surfers, have bought songs online, compared to 39 percent in Denmark and 36 percent in the UK.

Nonetheless, paying for digital tracks is markedly less popular in other European regions with just 15 percent of internet users having bought songs online in Sweden, while the percentage in Belgium and France is 17 percent and 18 percent respectively.

InSites' survey also reveals that almost half of all internet users in the countries surveyed have purchased goods or services online. In Scandinavian countries, an impressive three out of four surfers have paid for products from the web.

The Netherlands and France also rate highly with 67 percent of Dutch internet users and 64 percent of French surfers having bought goods online. However, in Spain, Italy and Belgium, less than half of users have bothered with internet shopping.

According to the study, the average European e-shopper makes some seven or eight online purchases a year. French, English and German surfers, however, are much more enthusiastic e-shoppers with roughly one online transaction a month. Belgium and the Netherlands have the lowest score in this regard with a mere five web purchases a year.

The top three online purchases in Europe are transport, clothes and books.

Although Ireland isn't included in the study, recent research from iReach shows that Irish shoppers have yet to embrace online purchasing. According to iReach's survey, which was published in October 2005, just 32 percent of internet users in Ireland have purchased goods via the net.

This is 12 percent below the European average, and outside of Greece and Portugal, is the lowest level of online commerce in Europe, iReach said.