Net access still growing

More people than ever before are going online in the UK, making the web an increasingly important channel to market not only for retailers but virtually all types of business.

The latest figures produced by the Office of National Statistics reveal that in the fourth quarter of last year, 52 per cent of households in the UK (12.6 million) could access the Internet from home, compared with just 9 per cent (2.2 million) in the same quarter of 1998.

A survey group of adults in February this year showed that 59 per cent had used the internet in the previous three months. Of these over half had purchased goods, services or tickets online. The most common purchases were travel, accommodation or holidays (55 per cent), videos or DVDs (43 per cent), music or CDs (37 per cent) and tickets for events (36 per cent). Sixty per cent of men and 53 per cent of women had made online purchases.

Of the adults interviewed, 35 per cent said they had never used the net. Over half (equivalent to 19 per cent of all UK adults) expressed the view that they were unlikely to use the web in future.