UK Online Shoppers Alter Their Behavior

As each week brings distressing news on the UK economy, a recent report has revealed how the nation's online shoppers aim to make their money go further.

The "Online Shopping and Credit Crunch Survey Report," produced by E-consultancy in association with immediate future and Logan Tod & Co., contains good news for online retailers: The gloomy economic situation in the UK will dent e-commerce less than it will traditional retail.

The researchers surveyed UK consumers ages 16 and older about their spending plans and how their buying patterns would change with the need to economize. Almost two-thirds of respondents (65%) said that concerns about money would alter their spending generally. But 56% said their online spending would remain unchanged, or that they would actually spend more on the Internet.

Financial worries have also affected the behavior of online shoppers. Respondents to the survey confirmed that they were visiting price and product comparison Websites more often and researching buys more carefully. Price has become the overriding consideration for purchases planned during the next 12 months, according to 64% of those polled.


The search for bargain buys is also driving shoppers to online reviews; 62% said they were now more likely to consult reviews by other consumers before buying. More than three out of five women (64%) said they were likely to look at online reviews, compared with 58% of men.

In addition—and this may put paid to some notions of profligate lady spenders—in this survey women were more likely than men to say they would cut their overall spending until the economic outlook brightens.