By MICHAEL FOREMAN
Internet research into the way consumers spend their money online shows little difference between web surfers "down under" and those in the United States.
US-based Jupiter Communications - a specialist in researching online consumer behaviour - has completed its first in-depth survey of online consumer purchasing habits in Australia
and New Zealand, and while there are differences in the way we use the internet - mostly we shop online just like Americans.
Books are the most popular net buy, accounting for 38 per cent of online spending, closely followed by computer peripherals and music - both at 28 per cent.
"This is almost identical to the US both in the types of products being bought and their order," said Drew Ianni, online advertising strategies analyst at Jupiter.
Mr Ianni said the high level of buying air travel via the net at 19 per cent was higher than the US.
"We are not sure exactly why that is, but it may have something to do with the geographical remoteness of the two countries."
Mr Ianni, who is based in New York but who was in Auckland to launch the survey, said the overall internet market here is not all that far behind the US and is on a par with the Nordic countries. However in e-commerce New Zealand lagged behind America by "at least one Christmas shopping season."
The survey showed that only 17 per cent of surfers had bought a product or service over the net but 30 per cent had "shopped," or used the web to get information before making a purchase. Mr Ianni said he was surprised these numbers were not higher, as in the US half of those people with internet connections had bought something online.
While the survey did not examine closely where people were buying on the net, he believed local net retailers such as Chaos Music Market, the bookseller Dymocks in Australia and Flying Pig in New Zealand would prosper.
"Local shipping is a critical issue for consumers in Australia and New Zealand and local players - including distribution and fulfilment companies - are going to reap the rewards."
However the range of online players locally was not as wide as in the US, Mr Ianni said, which could account for the survey's very low results of 4 per cent recorded for the purchase of consumer electronics.
