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Former GDR states an e-shopping wilderness
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East Germany lags behind with online orders
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Women buy less often online than men
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Hamburg, Germany, September 14th, 2006 –
East German consumers rarely go electronic shopping. Over 90 per cent of regular online shoppers in Germany are from the West German region. Only eight per cent of all Internet users from the New Laender frequently shop on the Internet, and the percentage of East German women shopping online is even lower than that of men. This is the result of the E-Shopping-Trend 2006 study conducted by novomind in collaboration with wiwo.de and handelsblatt.com.
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Although some 20 per cent of the German population is resident in the states of the former German Democratic Republic, less than a tenth of East Germans are regular Internet shoppers. Surprising: even in the region around the capital, Berlin-Brandenburg, the percentage of respondent online users buying online at least once a month is no more than four per cent. In West Germany, an average ten to fifteen per cent of consumers regularly purchase goods and services on the Internet.
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Apart from the geographical differences, there are also clear differences between the buying habits of the sexes. Men dominate the group of regular online shoppers at 46 per cent, while women, at 19 per cent lead the field of occasional shoppers, that is, people who take advantage of e-commerce offers less often than once every two months, with only 10 per cent of men in that category.
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There are also some wide gaps between the various age groups. The 31 to 40-year-old and 51 to 60-year-old generations have the greatest affinity with online shopping. Eighty-four per cent of both of these Internet user age groups make an electronic purchase at least once a month—and the over 60-year-olds are not far behind them with 76 per cent. The 14 to 20-year-olds, on the other hand, make only the odd purchase of goods and services on the Net, with just 17 per cent buying online roughly every three months. Of the 41 to 50-year-old group, 6 per cent do entirely without online shopping.
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round 25 million people in Germany between the ages of 16 and 74 now buy on the Internet. They represent 32 per cent of the population and put Germany well ahead in the online shopping market. Germany clearly outstrips the 15 old EU member states, which average only 20 per cent of e-shoppers. Even so, there is still a great deal of potential lying fallow. Only one in every two Internet users also makes online purchases. One-third of the people in the states of the former Federal Republic of Germany do not even have access to the Internet. In the east of the present republic, as many as 42 per cent of the population never goes online.
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One possible explanation for the geographical differences in Internet usage could be the different level of dissemination of broadband connections. The availability of this fast mode of connection also greatly influences the extent to which online offers are taken up. Customers with fast, steady access buy far more frequently online. According to information published by the Statistische Bundesamt, German Statistics Office, some 23 per cent of private households have a broadband connection. This puts Germany two per cent below the European average. Extensive areas of the former GDR and rural areas generally tend to be low on broadband connections. These regions hold large reserves of potential e-commerce customers.
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The latest study, E-Shopping-Trend 2006, conducted by novomind was completed in June 2006 in collaboration with wiwo.de and handelsblatt.com. The main focus of the survey was the question of where the current trends in e-shopping and virtual marketplaces lie. The online survey was conducted with the aid of 506 respondents.
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novomind is a software developer in Hamburg and the fastest-growing company in the field of electronic customer communications and mail management. As the leading provider of innovative solutions for digital customer communications, novomind AG provides software for service-oriented and personalised customer dealings. The software not only optimises efficiency in customer administration significantly, it also gives the user a faster return on investment. The portfolio of the Products division includes the novomind Self Service Suite™. The software package contains all the communication modules necessary for a customer service centre on a central knowledge basis: e-mail management, virtual customer consulting and systems for interactive, real-time communication. The novomind AG Services division implements complex e-business applications. More than 40 major companies have already decided in favour of novomind technology, among them Citibank, Otto, Yello Strom and the German pension institution Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund. Club Bertelsmann, EnBW and Mexx as well as public-sector users, such as the German Bundestag (parliament) and the German Department of Trade and Industry, have already successfully introduced novomind systems to optimise their customer communications, turnover and PR.
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