Online Banking and Buying Data from Royal Bank of Scotland

Results from research commissioned by The Royal Bank of Scotland suggest that nearly half the UK population uses the internet daily. Most use it to gather information.

More than 9 in 10 people expect to use the Web as much, or more, over the coming year than they do at the moment. Figures show that women are just as likely to use the Web as men and that internet use is similar across the age groups.

Head of Digital Banking Brigid Whoriskey said: 'The 65+ age group (65%) and 25-34 year olds (64%) are almost as likely to use the internet for gathering data as 16-24 year olds (66%). Women are slightly more likely to use the internet to retrieve information than men (64% versus 61%) and are more likely to bank online (8% versus 6%). But in spite of being thought of as the traditional shopaholics, women are far less likely to have bought something online than men (43% compared with 54%).

'The traditional "internet generation", 16 to 24 year olds, is less likely to have bought online (43%) than 25-34 year olds (63%), though this might reflect the number of credit cards held by the younger age group.'

Key findings from the research also include:
* 63% of those who use the internet do so to gather information, 20% use email and nearly one in five (18%) regularly shop online.
* Just 7% bank online but this is higher than the figure for those who use the web to play games (6%) or use chat rooms (5%).
* Women are more likely to use email than men (23% versus 17%), but less likely to use it to play games (4% versus 7%).
* 43% use the internet at least once a day, 22% use it at least three times a week and 15% weekly.
* Weekday evenings are the most popular times for using the internet (67%), more than a third, 35%, use it at the weekend and 32% use it during weekdays.
* Simple inertia (26%) and a preference for other channels, like branches or telephone banking, also 26%, are the most popular reasons why people don’t bank online. But though security still worries nearly one in five (19%), fears seem to be diminishing – it was mainly those aged 45-64 who expressed concern in this area.
* For those that do bank online, the most popular online transactions are viewing balances (88%), transferring funds (72%) and paying bills (58%), but nearly one in five (19%) have also applied online for a credit card, loan, savings account, mortgage or insurance.
* Security fears rank higher when it comes to online shopping. Nearly a third (29%) of respondents cite this as a barrier to shopping online.
* More than one in five (21%) prefer to use conventional channels so they can examine goods first and 6% cannot shop online because they don’t have a credit or debit card.
* Those that have shopped online (51%) cite 'saving time' and 'saving money' as the biggest attractions at 42% and 34% respectively. 13% find it easier and more convenient and one in ten shop online for goods not available in the shops.
* The most popular online purchases are CDs, videos, DVDs and books. More than a fifth – 22% – have bought clothes online, the same number travel tickets and 16% have bought wine or groceries.
* Women are less likely to buy CDs, videos and DVDs online than men (29% compared with 47%), more likely to buy books (42% compared to 26%) and less likely to buy clothes (18% compared with 26%).
* Although 64% per cent of people use the internet when planning their holidays – to research destinations or compare prices – just 39% would buy a holiday online.

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