A fifth of UK consumers have no qualms buying online, making the British the least concerned about internet purchases in Europe.

Research affiliate marketing company affilinet questioned 2,000 consumers across the UK, Spain, Germany, France and Holland.

The research found that online shoppers in France and Germany are most worried about the security of their payments, an issue for 57% of respondents from each country. But 22% of UK consumers had no worries about buying online at all. Some 28% of Dutch shoppers said lack of face-to-face service was their main issue, and across the different countries, nearly half (47%) said trying products for size was their biggest issue.

Meanwhile, 71% of British shoppers said that the most important factor when buying over the web was price. That makes the UK the most cost-conscious market in Europe, with 53% of French shoppers agreeing that this was a major factor. But product features were the most important for 76% of French respondents and for 41% of Dutch participants.

This could be a generational factor, however, because when it came to younger shoppers, 65% of 18 to 24-year-olds said price was irrelevant.

Peter Rowe, managing director of affilinet, said: “It’s great to see that British consumers are so confident in making purchases online. Where trying products out via an online outlet might have been an issue in years gone by, many e-tailers now have well drilled processes in place to make it easy for items to be returned on a no-fee policy. E-tailers are continuing to create ever-more consumer friendly and secure environments to make purchases, but there still seems to be a need to communicate this to consumers.”

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