This is how UK consumers shopped online in 2018

Consumers in the United Kingdom spent the most money online on vehicle-related items. Holidays were also a favorite destination for shoppers looking to spend their money online. And it’s fashion and fast food takeaways that Britons regretted the most buying online in 2018.

This is shown by a survey by Neteller among 1,000 consumers from the United Kingdom. With this study, the company wanted to show an interesting insight into the nation’s online shopping habits in 2018.

Brits like to shop online for vehicles and holidays

As said, the most popular online purchases where vehicle-related, with 23 percent of the UK’s total online spend going to this product category. Holidays are the next highest online investment, accounting for 13 percent of the country’s total online spend last year. On average, consumers spent 3,250 euros online on holidays.

Buying foods and drinks online is popular

Buying foods and drinks online is also a popular thing to do among British consumers, with an average spend of 1,830 euros per year. Britons do not only shop online for essential food items, they also spent an average of about 920 euros on online takeaway food and 1,279 euros on alcohol.

An interesting part of the study is that Neteller not only asked consumers what they bought online, but also what they regret having bought online. It seems that one in three UK shoppers habitually regretted their fast food purchases, while online alcohol shopper was less likely to regret their order of booze.

‘It’s easy to buy anything you want, at any time’

But of all purchases UK shoppers say they regretted most last year, fashion scored highest: 44 percent of respondents bought something after which they wished they hadn’t. “Especially towards the end of the year, when many of us suddenly have to dig deeper to pay for Christmas gifts, we reflect on how little we’ve managed to budget for the big festive season”, CEO Lorenzo Pellegrino says. “Online shopping makes it easy to buy anything you want, at any time, with just a few clicks – so it’s important to be smart about your spending.”

Britain’s top online purchases (with their average spend) in 2018

• Vehicle: €5,769
• Holidays: €3,249
• Food: €1,831
• Tech: €1,570
• Insurance: €1,381
• Alcohol: €1,279
• Experiences: €1,059
• Home: €997
• Takeaways: €991

What Britons regretted buying online in 2018

• Fashion (44%)
• Takeaways (34%)
• Vehicle (27%)
• Food (25%)
• Subscriptions (25%)
• Alcohol (24%)
• Beauty (22%)
• Home (20%)

Where Britons did their shopping

• Watching TV (58%)
• In bed (42%)
• At work (22%)
• Riding the bus(18%)
• On a sun lounger (10%)
• In the bath (8%)
• At hairdresser (5%)
• In a taxi (5%)