42% of Austrians shop online at least every week

Online shopping has become increasingly popular in Austria. The corona pandemic has, of course, intensified this trend. Currently, 85 percent of Austrian consumers shop online at least once a month, while 42 percent buy products online at least once a week.

A recent study among 3500 Austrians aged 18 and over shows that 71 percent of consumers in Austria say they have been shopping more online ever since the country was hit by the coronavirus. Nowadays, 85 percent shop online at least once a month, with most of them making two to three online purchases per month.

62% buy electrical goods online

The most popular type of products to buy online in Austria are electrical goods, as 62 percent of consumers buy them online. Other popular product categories are fashion and clothing (61 percent), books, board games and toys (58 percent), travel, flight and hotel bookings (54 percent) and tickets for cultural events (54 percent).

Austrian shoppers like to purchase on account.

The study, conducted by MasterCard Austria, also shows that when it comes to paying online, shoppers in Austria like to purchase on account, which was favored by 88 percent. Credit card (74 percent) and direct debit (73 percent) are popular payment methods in Austria. These are followed by Klarna Sofort-Überweisung (62 percent), payment in advance (59 percent) and PayPal (48 percent).

‘This comes as a bit of a surprise’

“The fact that purchasing on account and even paying in advance are still so widespread in ecommerce, comes as a bit of a surprise, since these payment types mean a considerable amount of additional work for users compared to automated solutions”, comments Piotr Kwasniak, Director Business Development at Mastercard Austria.