Two out of 10 consumers in the UK would not consider buying food and drink online, according to a study by price comparison site Shopzilla.co.uk.

The nationwide study of Britain’s online shopping habits revealed that online shopping is more popular in the UK than the US, online customer service is rated better than the high street and the credit crunch is driving shoppers online for bargains. There are also key regional variations in online shopping behaviour.

But only 29.7 per cent of respondents said they do buy food and drink online, and 21.9 per cent of respondents said they would never consider buying perishables over the net.

This contrasts against more than 11 million Britons who say they are now shopping online at least twice a week, with clothing, books, CDs and DVDs among the favourite items - while more than 1.3m Brits are logging on every day to purchase goods and services.

Meanwhile, the credit crunch looks set to trigger an even bigger stampede towards online shopping. More than half of shoppers polled said they were now more likely to hunt for a range of items online in a bid to save money.

The poll of more than 3,000 Brits shows that being able to shop any time of the day or night, price and convenience are the biggest motivations for shopping online.

The study was commissioned to launch Shopzilla.co.uk’s first ever UK Circle of Excellence Awards, which will recognise the UK’s best online retailers as voted for by consumers.

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