Europeans are flocking to the Internet. More than one third of users in Germany the U.K. and France had come online in the last year and 20% in the last six months, said a study by AOL Europe and Roper Starch Worldwide.
A majority of users had made online purchases and that more than half say that the Internet has become a necessity in their lives.
The growth can be expected to continue as seven in 10 European consumers suggest to a friend or family member that they get online.
Shopping and banking are the major online activities, and they are more engaged in them than their U.S. counterparts are. Users in the United Kingdom are more likely than U.S. users to say they plan to increase the number of online purchases that they will make in the next few years (54% to 50%). And, Europeans are nearly twice as likely to engage in online banking.
In an indication of European market’s growth potential, European consumers follow a trend established in the U.S. of expanding their online activities as they gain more online experience, moving from research and communications to commerce and other activities. Some 52% of those online for more than 3 years regularly or occasionally make online purchases and 58% of those online more than three years bank on the Internet.
To gauge how much of a necessity the Internet is in people’s lives, the survey asked respondents which medium they would prefer to have available if they were stranded alone on a desert island. Some 62% chose an Internet-connected computer over a telephone or television, comparable to the 69% in the most recent U.S. survey.
The study was conducted via telephone in March among a random sample of approximately 500 home Internet/online subscribers over 18 years of age in each of the three countries.
Network
