“In terms of penetration levels, just over a quarter of European
households have internet access at home via a PC. This figure can
be compared to one third of Asian households and over half of
American households” said ACNielson eRatings.com’s chief of
measurement science Richard Goosey.
He adds, “don’t expect this American domination to last long
though…Over the next 12 months, another 9% of European households
and 12% of Asia Pacific households plan on acquiring internet
access.”
Goosey noted that Germany and the UK dominate internet access in
Europe in terms of overall numbers of users, with South Korea alone
accounting for 45% of the number of people with internet access in
the Asia Pacific region. Add Taiwan and Australia to that 45%, and
these three countries account for 86% of the total number of people
in Asia Pacific with internet access.
In terms of the populations with home internet access in Europe,
Holland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden can all claim that over 50%
have access. In Asia Pacific, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea,
Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand all clear the 50% mark.
Internet use at work in Europe and Asia Pacific, however, is
significantly less. Nielson//NetRatings state that, “clearly the
use of the internet at work is not the cultural norm yet in these
regions, which could impact the growth of business to business
commerce ventures.”
Whilst on-line shopping is most popular Australia, New Zealand,
Sweden, and Denmark, none of these are close to the US levels where
74% of surfers shop on-line. In the UK and Hong Kong, only 19% and
13% respectively of surfers shop on-line.
