E-shopping increasingly popular

In 2003 eight in ten persons had a PC at home and seven in ten had access to the Internet. One in four also had shopped on the Internet at least once.

PC owners, access to the Internet and e-shopping

PC owners and access to the Internet

PCs with access to the internet are fairly common in Dutch households. In 2003 some 80 percent of Dutch inhabitants had a PC at home as against 60 percent in 1998, an increase by one third. In the period 2002-2003 the increase was a mere 2.5 percent.

In the period 1998-2003 the number of people who had an Internet connection at home grew steadily from 16 to 68 percent. Thus the number has increased more than fourfold in that period. In the period 2002-2003 the increase was only 6 percent.

High on the European list

This trend resulted in 59 percent of households having access to the Internet in 2003. The fifteen EU member states (until 1 May 2004) averaged 41 percent last year. The Netherlands is runner-up, Denmark leads wit 64 percent.

E-shopping

E-shopping on the increase

In 2003 a total of 22 percent of the population in households had shopped on the Internet at least once; in 1998 only 2 percent. In the period 2002-2003 e-shopping grew by 30 percent.

Only part of these persons are frequent shoppers. In 2003 one in six persons had shopped on the Internet in the last three months and one in ten in the last month. The main reason to refrain from shopping on the Internet is security and the invasion of privacy. And not everybody is prepared to communicate credit card data on the Internet.

Vincent Fructuoso van der Veen