An overwhelming majority of shoppers say they expect to find the best deals are online, according to research.
A report from price comparison site Shopping.com found that 80% of the 1,360 people they quizzed said the best prices were online, compared to just 3% who said the high street was the place to find cheaper goods.
More than a third said they found it easier to spend online, and 15% said they had laid out more than £1,000 on a single purchase. Some 91% of people said they preferred shopping online to the high street, with 40% citing their hatred of queues and 41% opting for greater choice online.
More than one in 10 said they had used their smartphone to make a purchase.
Russ Carroll, UK Managing Director of Shopping.com, said: “The value offered by shopping online is borne out in our survey results.” He added: “It’s interesting to see that more than one in ten people have shopped using their mobile phone, a figure that will only grow as more and more people have smartphones with data included in their phone tariffs.”
The survey also found that half of those quizzed mainly shopped online for themselves. Some 5% admitted to buying mistakes because they were bored or had had too much to drink.
One respondent said they bought a ride-on lawn mower despite having no garden, while other regretted purchases include a stuffed cat, a Dukes of Hazzard car horn and an 11ft dinghy.
Our view: While it’s obvious that a survey by an online shopping company will find more people in favour of shopping online, we have to admit that we find it easy to believe these findings. As someone who’s never been a fan of high street shopping, we personally have no doubt that it’s easier to buy online. However we’d still expect that most of those 15% who spent more than £1,000 online had previously been to see the item they were considering shelling out on for themselves in a high street shop.
