Women take control of online shopping for first time

by Gordon MacMillan,, Brand Republic 17-Feb-04, 08:00

LONDON - The predilection of women to shop has translated seamlessly through to the web where women are for the first time spending more online than men, according to a report by Verdict Research.

Though surfing the net has long been seen as a male-orientated activity, this is no longer the case for online shopping according to Verdict on e-Retail 2004, which found that the typical woman online shopper last year spent 71.4% more than in 2002, a growth rate six times faster than for male online shoppers.

Overall this contributed to the total online market being boosted by 36.1% in 2003 -- almost 10 times more than the total retail spend increase of 3.7%. The growth took the value of the market to £4.9bn, or equivalent to 1.9% of all retail spending.

The average online female shopper now spends £495 per year -- 5.3% more than the £470 spent by men and women's willingness to spend is seen as representing a prime opportunity for online retailers to raise transaction sizes and increase online sales.

Women now account for 46.3% of total online sales and spend more than men on grocery, furniture and floorcoverings, health and beauty, clothing and footwear, homewares and books.

The online retail market is set to receive further boost from the grey market. Slow to adopt the internet, the over-55s have since flooded online over the past year and they are spending more than any other age group at £527 a head.

The majority of older customers with internet access are retired ABs with high disposable incomes. According to Verdict, silver surfers enjoy trawling the net for cheap prices and good deals. Over the past year grocery, electricals and DIY have all proven popular with older age groups, boosting overall spend for over-55s by 129.1% to £747m.

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