Few people buy on the web regularly. Travel and financial products are also in demand. This follows aggressive marketing from companies such as online bank Egg, part of financial services giant Prudential, and low-coast airline EasyJet. These users have an average income of 40,000, which is more than double the national average of about 18,000. Women still lag behind men when it comes to web usage.
Users tend to be either students or people with full time jobs.
A clutch of recent reports have suggested that more people are doing business on the web. More than one in five consumers with access to the internet have ordered products online, a Datamonitor report found earlier this year. Online share dealing has tripled in the past three months and is set to continue growing, an investment managers survey found. More and more UK businesses have launched online outlets. Woolworths is set to be next, with its site expected to be open for business on 1 December.