The bar chart illustrates the proportion of people who purchased different types of goods and services online in three different countries in the previous year.
Overall, the United Kingdom recorded the highest percentage for most categories of online purchases. In addition, books and computer equipment were the most popular items purchased online, while toys and financial services were the least popular.
The categories of books, computer equipment and music had relatively high proportions of online purchases. About 65% of consumers bought books online in the UK, compared to about 43% in Canada and Australia. In addition, the percentage of consumers purchasing computer equipment in the UK was far higher than that of Canada and Australia, at around 55%, as opposed to around 45% in Canada and roughly 43% in Australia. Similarly, music purchases were also very common in the UK, reaching about 70%, while the figures for Canada and Australia were lower at around 35% and 37% respectively.
In contrast, the remaining categories accounted for lower percentages of online purchases. Around 36% of consumers in the UK bought DVDs or videos online, and the figures for Canada and Australia were lower, at about 15% and 20%. A similar trend can be seen for food and drink, but to a much lesser extent, with approximately 25% in the UK, while the figures for Canada and Australia were about 5% and 18% respectively. Meanwhile, financial services and toys were the least popular categories. The proportions were below 20% in all three countries, with the UK still having slightly higher figures than Canada and Australia.