Global e-shoppers spend on average 22 per cent (UK average 25 per cent) of their annual outgoings on goods and services online. According to the Global Online Shopper Report commissioned by WorldPay, UK consumers shop for six hours a month, 51 per cent watch TV whilst shopping online and most make the majority of their purchases at 8.05pm.

The Global Online Shopper Report surveyed 19,000 consumers and 153 senior decision makers from global retail merchants to identify the online shopping habits of consumers in the UK, USA, China, Germany, Spain, Finland, France, Japan, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, Canada, Argentina and India.

The report found e-shoppers are increasingly varying the devices they use to shop online. 55 per cent, 19 per cent and 11 per cent respectively use a laptop, smartphone or tablet.

Mobile device usage is rising particularly among ‘heavy spenders’ – those who have spent 30 per cent of their disposable income online in the past year. Globally, 55 per cent of heavy spenders have used a smartphone and 67 per cent a tablet in the last three months to buy online.

Consequently more shoppers are buying on the move. 29 per cent of global shoppers buy online at work, six per cent at college or university, in a car or in a physical retail store, seven per cent make online purchases when out at a café, bar, restaurant or pub and eight per cent while on holiday.

Globally, 19 per cent of consumers purchase using their smartphone. China has the largest percentage of consumers that use their smartphone to purchase online (46 per cent), closely followed by India (40 per cent).

In terms of mobile shopping apps, whilst the global average is 2.6, Chinese shoppers used 5.7 compared to 1.2 in Finland.

Other key findings included:

• Home shoppers – 95 per cent of e-commerce purchases are conducted within the home.
• Mobile purchases – In the UK, of those consumers that buy using a mobile device (14 per cent smartphone, six per cent tablet), 50 per cent have purchased clothes, 43 per cent books and 40 per cent music/CDs in the last three months
• Cross-border shopping – 44 per cent of global consumers purchase from an overseas website.
• Heavy shoppers – Developing economies have the highest proportion of ‘heavy’ shoppers.
• Security and fraud – 42 per cent of global shoppers have been directly affected by online fraud themselves or seen a friend or family member fall victim but 57 per cent say they feel more secure shopping online today than 12 months ago
• Payment preferences – Credit cards (69 per cent), PayPal (40 per cent) and debit cards (37 per cent) dominate global payment preferences.

Unsurprisingly, Amazon was the most popular website for buying goods online, with 43 per cent of consumers shopping on Amazon in the last three months. In the UK, this figure was 90 per cent. eBay was a close second with 33 per cent globally.

In the UK, food shopping is extremely popular, with 33 per cent buying groceries online, against a global average of 18 per cent.

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