The latest report by Internet research firm NetValue, cites Lastminute.com as the leading travel e-commerce site in Europe.Despite the U.K.`s dominance in e-commerce site traffic over the rest of Europe and the U.S., U.K. Internet penetration is still behind that of Scandinavia.
The U.K. had the highest percentage of home Internet users visiting an e-commerce Web site during May. The company surveyed users in the U.K., France, Germany, Spain, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the U.S. NetValue`s report, which draws on the research firm`s ongoing Internet audience study, says that 75.9% of all home Internet users in the U.K. have now visited an e-tailing Web site, with 42.1% making a secure connection. In the U.S., the report says that 73.9% of home Internet users visited an e-commerce site, with just 28.8% making a secure connection. Despite the fact that Denmark and Sweden have the highest levels of Internet penetration in the eight countries surveyed, NetValue says that Net users from these countries are the least likely to shop online.
The research found that just 8.1% of Danish e-commerce site visitors and 6.9% of those in Sweden actually entered a secure area of the site. Alongside Amazon.de with its 5.2% market reach, NetValue found that Bahn.de, the German rail site, and Amazon.com, the U.S. and international Amazon site, were in second and third places with 3.8 and 3.4%, respectively. Ninth position was taken by Lastminute.com`s 2.2% , the only travel site to reach the top 10.
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