Clothes and sports goods seem to be the most popular items.Clothes and sports goods seem to be the most popular items.

Local retailers are facing ever growing competition from online shopping sites whose popularity among the Maltese has doubled in five years.

In 2008, roughly two out of every 10 Maltese had used the internet to buy a product or service at least once in the previous 12 months. Last year it was more than four in 10, according to statistics published yesterday by Eurostat.

The new data shows that while 69 per cent of the population over 16 regularly used the internet last year, 63 per cent made at least one online purchase.

Eurostat said online shopping in Malta was already much more popular than in the most countries of the EU, where an average of 59 per cent of internet users are buying things over the internet.

Clothes and sports goods seem to be the most popular items among Maltese online shoppers, with 36 per cent of them buying at least one item in this category.

Travel and holiday accommodation (21 per cent) was the second most sought after category followed by books and magazines (20 per cent). None of the Maltese shoppers used the internet to buy food or groceries.

The EU’s statistics arm said the UK (82 per cent), Denmark and Sweden (both 79 per cent), Germany (77 per cent) and Finland (72 per cent) had the highest shares of online shoppers. Romania (11 per cent), Bulgaria (17 per cent) and Estonia and Italy (both 29 per cent) had the lowest.

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