Internet use as shopping mall growing

Shopping over the internet by households was developing further, the National Statistics Office said yesterday.

An NSO survey on ICT usage in the middle of last year shows that the proportion of online buyers who purchased from retailers found exclusively on the internet exceeded that of those who had bought from retailers in stores or who advertised their wares in print catalogues.

The vast majority of households with home internet used a desktop computer to access the internet while 15 per cent used a portable computer.

The survey data indicate that the use of ultra-new internet searching devices such as games consoles and television sets that included an internet facility were still at a minimal level.

On the other hand, 61 per cent said they had a broadband connection against 39 per cent with a narrowband connection.

While computer use seemed to be more or less evenly distributed between the sexes, the proportion of men who had recently accessed the internet at the time of the survey surpassed that of women by nine percentage points - 42 per cent against 33 per cent.

The three main purposes for internet searching were: e-mail correspondence, 84 per cent; retrieving information on goods and services, 70 per cent; and obtaining information about public services, 50 per cent.

The most popular products purchased online were books and magazines followed by films and music.

Forty-nine per cent of households said they did not have internet access because they did not need it while 23 per cent gave lack of related skills as the reason for not installing internet.

Ninety eight per cent of households have a television set and 69 per cent have cable television and 26 per cent an analogue service.

While 68 per cent of households with an income up to Lm6,000 had cable services, 70 per cent of those with an income of Lm6,000+ had the service.

Eighty per cent of households had at least one mobile phone while the proportion of households with internet access was 46 per cent.