Most commonly, internet access is gained through commercial and educational institutions. Access through commercial institutions is almost twice as common in North America, as it is in Europe. Differences between men and women are not very pronounced.
Shopping is relatively uncommon as a principal motivation.
Making commercial sites fun, interesting and informative may prove quite important to generating traffic. Europeans seem somewhat more serious of purpose, and less into shopping. However, this is conditional upon appropriate quality and price. Here are more details on what makes a WWW vendor attractive to these customers. European respondents are less willing to pay than are the North Americans.