Most Popular Online Purchases (Neilsen Chart)

[BehindBlueEyes]

This is from 2007 but the percentages probably haven't changed much.

Neilsen Chart 2007

Book the most popular at 41%  No big shock there.... but this did come as a shock:

“Some of the biggest buyers of books on the internet are from developing countries - China, Brazil, Vietnam and Egypt - indicating massive growth potential for online retailers that can specifically target these fast-growing markets,” said Jonathan Carson, President, International, Nielsen Online.

What came as a huge surprise to me was that the Country with the highest percentage of internet users shopping on line was South Korea.  The US came in at 5th. 

And overall, Europe has a higher percentage of online buyers than North America.   

This is certainly an eye opener for a PTR conditioned mind.

[Rodent]

I'm a bit surprised that software isn't higher on the list, since it's the least tangible of the goods compared and often comes only in a form of a download link.

Also, the article doesn't mention how exactly the data was compared, but it looks like it took into account the number of transactions, rather than the amount of money spent, or else electronic items and airline tickets would be higher in the rankings.

I guess as someone working in retail I should not admit it, but in hopes my boss does not frequent this forum I will: I am a big online shopper. Not only don't I have a car (so having everything delivered by the mailman is simply more convenient for me), but more than anything else it is just so much cheaper. And if you use cash back sites, it becomes cheaper still. Just within the last week, my online purchases have ranged from a 90 cent pen to a $950 laptop. If I were to total last years purchases, the categories I spent most money on would be photographic equipment (I guess that would go into "electronics"?) and travel. In terms of the number of purchases, probably photo equipment would win, too.

[Esperanza]

And overall, Europe has a higher percentage of online buyers than North America.   

Europe has been behind (the times LOL) with buying online for years but is catching up fast.
What needs to be noted though is that most sales are made within national borders.
It's only the molochs of online sales like Amazon that sell 'over the border' without a problem or a few specialised online stores that invested in reaching a larger potential of buyers. The majority of online stores in European countries will not ship to other countries.

[Rodent]

The majority of online stores in European countries will not ship to other countries.

Slightly off the main topic, but there is a very good reason why online retailers in most countries will not ship to Poland: Polish postal workers steal. In order to make sure your package arrives to the addressee, you have to mail it registered. No biggie within the country, but international registered mail is just too expensive and if it's not a very high-ticket item, may be more than the value of the item itself. I can't blame a retailer for not wanting to deal with complaints from disgruntled customers who never received the item. I suppose the situation may be similar for several other new members of the European Union and goes too deep (starting with postal workers being underpaid in these countries, thus making it one of the least wanted and least competitive jobs on the market) to be fixed very soon. Soooo - no borders but not quite.