Hong Kong e-shoppers spend 120 million U.S. dollars online

About 43 per cent of Internet users in the territory have tried online shopping, with 31 per cent claiming to have made purchases repeatedly. The survey by Internet researchers at www.consult found that half of all those who bought goods spent more than 90 dollars in total over the last year.

Fifteen per cent spent between 190 and 650 dollars during 2000 while one in 20 spent at least 1,300 dollars. The most popular repeated purchases were groceries, books and concert tickets followed by music CDs, travel tickets, clothes and videos. Almost three-quarters of shoppers made their purchases from Websites in Hong Kong and Macau while 21 per cent shopped via U.S. sites.

Jessica Sullivan of www.consult said at least 430,000 regular Internet users in Hong Kong had made one online purchase. "A further 230,000 regular Internet users have positive attitudes to online shopping but have yet to make a purchase," she said.

The survey also found that half of the Internet users had been online for less than two years while the average time spent online was between one to three hours a day.

(la/news.ch)