London, 2nd December 2010 – In its annual Christmas shopping survey, Twenga, the next generation shopping search engine, asked Internet users what are the reasons that would prevent them from doing more of their Christmas shopping online. The results show that 45% of Brits like to see and touch things before they buy them.

Another reason why British Internet users would not like to shop online is because they are worried that the product will not match the description (29%).

E-Retailers listen to their customers

“E-Retailers have got the message - free return offers are very popular, so that customers can touch the product, or order two or three different sizes to try the product and choose the one they like,” says Thérèse Torris, Vice-President Content at Twenga.

What, if anything, would prevent you from doing more of your Christmas shopping online?

    United Kingdom   The Netherlands   France   Germany   Italy   Spain
I want to see and touch things before I buy them   45%   48%   46%   45%   41%   44%
I’m worried that the products won’t be delivered on time   31%   22%   51%   29%   30%   33%
I’m worried that the product will not match the description   29%   12%   32%   15%   34%   42%
The products I want are not available online   28%   10%   32%   17%   12%   12%
I’m worried that I won’t be able to return the products if they are unsuitable   25%   14%   26%   16%   26%   32%
It is too complicated to return products if they are unsuitable   24%   17%   26%   24%   25%   34%
I’m worried that the products will get damaged   23%   8%   33%   21%   26%   26%
I don’t trust online transactions   12%   8%   20%   9%   23%   26%
I don’t like waiting for my purchases to arrive; once I’ve bought something, I want it straight away   10%   20%   8%   15%   12%   17%
I don’t have the means / facilities to make online transactions   4%   4%   5%   6%   11%   7%
I don’t really know how to shop online, I’m not familiar with the technology   3%   1%   3%   2%   9%   3%
Other   7%   10%   3%   6%   5%   5%
I don't know   14%   19%   9%   20%   14%   9%
Base : 3013 respondents

Methodology
Twenga asked over 3,000 European Internet users about their Christmas spending budgets for this year and how they intend to use it. The study by Novamétrie was conducted online for Twenga between 27th September and 7th October 2010 using a representative sample of 3013 European Internet users from the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands.