Internet-shunning shoppers are almost extinct

'Online shopping creates freedom,' said the authors of the survey Keystone

Only 3% of adult internet users buy nothing online, with the elderly most likely to stick to bricks-and-mortar shops, according to a survey. 

Online comparison service Comparis.ch said on Tuesday that whereas 6% of those aged 56-74 were yet to place an order online, the number of abstainers among 18- to 35-year-olds was less than 1%. 

By contrast, almost one surfer in two (48%) orders something online at least several times a month – “14% even order goods and services online every week,” according to the representative survey of 1,012 people throughout Switzerland. 

Here, too, younger shoppers are ahead: 61% shop online several times a month, while for over-55s it’s only 38%. 

‘Freedom’ 

People who shop online several times a month most often live in a household with more than three people and/or with children. 

Households with an income of more than CHF8,000 ($8,020) are more likely to buy online several times a month (64%). Among low-income earners of less than CHF4,000 the figure is 37%. 

“Families often have little free time. Online shopping creates freedom. Parents can shop when their children are asleep and the goods are brought to one’s house,” said Comparis financial expert Michael Kuhn. 

Among the goods ordered online every week, food is the most frequently bought. According to the survey, clothes, shoes and accessories dominate products that are bought several times a month to two times a month.