The UK is the biggest online consumer of books, films and music, according to a survey of 10,000 people in 10 different countries commissioned by Pitney Bowes. It also showed that UK residents are among the most frequent online shoppers.

Of the 10,000 consumers asked, 93 per cent said they had purchased online before, in the UK 65 per cent of those had bought an item online in the last 30 days. In Japan this was also 65 per cent and in Germany 66 per cent had made an e-commerce transaction in the last month.

Seventy seven per cent of UK shoppers said they went online to purchase books, films and music. Chinese consumers topped three further categories, purchasing more household goods (57 per cent), apparel (58 per cent) and footwear (53 per cent) online than any other country.

The most computer hardware/software or consumer electronics are bought online by Brazilian consumers (59 per cent).

The study also revealed significant differences in why consumers abandon online shopping carts. Overall, high shipping costs (67 per cent), additional fees at time of delivery such as duties and taxes (47 per cent) and the delivery time (39 per cent), were the most frequent obstacles.

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