Three quarters of British adults have shopped online in 2014, says ONS

By Richard Siddle

Published: 08 August, 2014

Nearly three quarters of UK adults have already ought goods online during 2014, according to new figures released by the Office of National Statistics.

It esitmates that 74% of adults has bought goods and services online this year, according to the ONS's Internet Acccess - Households and Individuals 2014 report.
Clothes are the most popular items to buy online, with 49% of adults having bought clothes at some stage during 2013. The next most popular areas for online shopping are household goods, travel arrangements such as car hire or transport tickets, holiday accommodation and event tickets, according to a report in today's Internet Retailing.

The figures are even more impressive considering only 84% of UK households have access to some kind of internet connection. This compares to 9% in 1998, when the report series first began.

The ONS report estimates 76% of adults, which equates to 37.6m people access the internet daily, which is up considerably from 35% in 2006. The study also shows the growing importance of mobile phones and smartphones with 68% of adults have used a mobile device to go online, rising to 96% among 16 to 24-year-olds.

Over half of adults (54%) are now using the internet to access social media sites which increases to 91% of 16 to 24-year-olds.

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