Almost half of Maltese shop online

A new Eurobarometer survey shows that Maltese consumers are getting accustomed to buying services and products over the internet.

Forty-four per cent of Maltese respondents said they used the internet to make a purchase in the past year. Although the average in the EU is higher, standing at 56 per cent, Malta is stronger when it comes to cross-border purchases.

Twenty-three per cent of Maltese respondents said they bought a service or a product from another country outside Malta over the internet in the past 12 months.

This percentage is much higher than the average in the EU where consumers tend to be rather more cautious when making online purchases from outside their country. According to the survey, the average cross-border e-purchases in the EU 27 over the past 12 months stood at only seven per cent.

The study was conducted in Malta by Misco on a random sample of 500 respondents.

It shows that Maltese consumers tend to be more confident when using the net to make purchases from abroad.

Asked whether they are more confident to buy electronics from abroad then from Malta, 11 per cent of Maltese respondents replied positively. In the EU 27 only six per cent showed the same tendency.

Asked about their confidence in buying via the net from the local market as opposed to purchasing from abroad, 33 per cent of the Maltese said they are confident, when the average confidence in the EU 27 is slightly higher at 37 per cent.

Commenting on the results of the survey, EU Consumers Commissioner Malegna Kuneva said the figures underline how much work still needs to be done to boost confidence in the online internal market.

"Consumers and retailers are beginning to embrace e-commerce at national level but internal market barriers still persist online.

The potential of the online internal market to deliver greater choice and lower price to consumers and new markets for retailers is considerable. We need to redouble our efforts to tackle the remaining borders," she said.