How often do people buy online?

Question 67 asked respondents how often they had bought goods over the Internet in the previous 12 months. During that period, 1703 respondents (53% of a total of 1703) had never bought goods or services over the Internet. Of those that had made purchases, 10% had done so on a monthly basis and 25% only occasionally i.e. less than monthly but more than once a year.

Males were significantly more likely to purchase goods using the Internet, with 3.6% responding 'several times a week' and 11.5% responding 'monthly', while 56% of females fell into the 'never' category.

Question 68 asked whether online purchases were made for work or personal reasons. The main reason was 'mostly personal' (75%) followed by equally work and personal (16%).

Men were significantly more likely to say that the reason was equally work and personal at 20.5%, while 80.6% of women were likely to give the reason as personal.

New Zealand Europeans were significantly less likely to say they never bought goods using the Internet (52%), but were significantly more likely to buy goods occasionally (26%). The Indian group and the 'other' ethnic group were significantly more likely to have never bought goods or services (66% and 59% respectively), although the Indian group giving this response was small, at 58. There were no significant ethnicity-related differences for Question 68.

Respondents aged under 20 and over 70 were significantly more likely to respond that they never purchased goods over the Internet (63.4% and 61.3% respectively). The only significant result for the other question in the pair was that 82% of 20-29 year olds responded that they purchased goods for personal reasons. The self-employed were likely to buy goods for work (14%) or both work and personal reasons (27%).

Respondents with children were more likely to buy goods on a weekly basis, as were the self-employed. Respondents aged over 70, on benefits (especially super annuitants 62%) and those earning between zero and $19,999 were all significantly more likely to respond 'never' to Question 67.

Those with no school qualifications or School Certificate or NCEA1 tended to respond 'never' to Question 67, while those with higher school qualifications tended to choose 'occasionally'

The only significant results in relation to urbanisation for these two questions were that people who lived in towns were more likely to 'Never' buy goods over the Internet (418 of 728 respondents - 57.4%) and were less likely to report that they bought goods occasionally (22%). The only significant result in terms of geographical location was that lower North Islanders were more likely to buy goods monthly.