Women are not just looking, they’re buying online, survey shows

In another indication that consumers are increasingly comfortable shopping on the Internet, 96% of women who shop online say they have made at least one purchase online in the past year. 57% of respondents said they both research and buy online, while 31% said they browse online but purchase in stores.

The telephone survey of 427 adult women was conducted in February by Consumer Reports National Research Center for ShopSmart, a new consumer-oriented shopping magazine from the publishers of Consumer Reports.

Here are other findings from the survey:
• Women spend an average of 1.2 hours per week shopping online, and 52% of their non-grocery shopping time is spent online.
• 18% say they do most of their online shopping at work, while 54% say they mostly shop online between 5 p.m. and midnight.
• 32% reported negative experiences. Of those, 20% said they did not receive the item they ordered and 13% said the merchandise was different from what was described.
• The most spent on one item averaged $397, with 15% saying they had spent $1,000 or more on a single purchase.
• 17% of respondents said they would never buy food online, 14% said clothing, 8% shoes and 7% jewelry.