Household Digital Consumer Behaviour 2021

Life in Ireland has changed quite substantially since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the introduction of measures to address the pandemic, many persons still working remotely, and schools and colleges using a combination of in-school learning and remote learning where required at different stages in 2021. This has had an effect on people’s use of the internet and their lives have become a lot more virtual as a result.

This publication on “Digital Consumer Behaviour” is the second of a series of publications presenting the results of the annual Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Household Survey.

The data in this publication was collected as part of the ICT Household Survey carried out in the first two quarters of 2021. The detail in the publication is a subset of the broader data collected in the survey. The first publication “Household Internet Security and Information Integrity” was published on 6^th December and covered internet security and privacy, and protection of personal data. The third and final publication presenting the results of the ICT Household Survey will be published on 14^th December. This final publication “Internet Access and Usage in Ireland 2021” will cover household internet access, individuals’ frequency of internet usage and devices used to access the internet. Again, this last publication is a subset of the main data collection for the ICT Household Survey.

This publication today on “Digital Consumer Behaviour” covers individuals’ use of e-commerce including sharing economy, internet activities, their use of e-Government, online learning and ICT skills.

At an overall level, nine in ten (90%) of persons aged 16 years and older used the internet within the previous three months (of when they took part in the survey), while just 1% had used the internet but not recently (not within the previous three months) and a further one in twelve (8%) had never used the internet. More detailed analysis of the frequency of internet usage will be given in the publication “Internet Access and Usage in Ireland 2021” which will be published on 14^th December.

This publication focuses on the internet usage of persons aged 16 years and over who have used the internet within the previous three months.

• Email is the most popular activity carried out on the internet - 93% of internet users surveyed in 2021 used email. See Table 2.1.
• Nearly nine in ten (88%) of internet users used the internet for finding information on goods and services, while two thirds (67%) looked up health related information online. See Tables 2.1 and 2.2.
• Eight in ten (80%) of internet users used internet telephoning/video calls (such as MS Teams, Zoom, Skype, FaceTime, etc.). See Table 2.1.
• Reading or downloading online news was carried out by 83% of internet users in 2021. See Table 2.1.
• Internet banking is used by 78% of internet users. See Table 2.1.
• The most popular online purchase was Clothes, shoes or accessories (includes bags, jewellery, etc.) (80% of internet users) while three in ten (30%) bought Sports goods. See Table 3.2.
• Half (50%) of internet users bought online Ready-made food delivered (includes takeaways), while 16% purchased food/drinks from stores or meal-kit providers. See Table 3.2.
• Nearly seven in ten (68%) of internet users obtained information online from public authorities and services websites or apps. See Table 5.1.
• Over three in ten (31%) of internet users did an online course in 2021. See Table 6.1.