Women's behaviour online

• The female population online
• Women’s internet usage - by age
• What women want, shopping and other online activities
• Will women visit these types of websites more or less because of the recession
• Is online or the high street the best for each of these aspects of shopping?
• Average female internet usage
• Brands/applications with the largest number of female visitors
• Brands/applications with the largest concentration of female visitors amongst their audience
• Top 15 UK forums by volume of online message posts written by women
• Weekly online activities most likely to be accounted for by women
• Search engines most used by women

The female population online

• 86% are 20-55

• 71% are in long term relationships

• 44% have children

• 97% have purchased goods or services online

• 71% of women visit women’s websites at least once a week, with 16-34 year olds visiting more frequently

• 56% of respondents stated online advertising encouraged them to learn more about the brand

• 47% of respondents are more likely to buy a brand after seeing it advertised online

• 44% of respondents tend to feel more positive about the brand if it is advertised online

Women’s internet usage - by age

The large majority of women (85%) use the internet daily, with most going online more than once a day. The 25-34 age group are the most frequent users.


The internet is enhancing women’s lifestyles.

What women want, shopping and other online activities

Holidays and travel are the products most likely to be researched by women online followed by electrical/household goods and gifts for friends and family.


Films, books, music, event tickets, gifts and clothes/accessories are the products most likely to be purchased online.


The recession looks set to increase price comparison behaviour, with 34% of women saying they would use price comparison sites more.

Will women visit these types of websites more or less because of the recession.

Source: Lightspeed Research 2008

• 62% of women said they were not planning to change the way they shopped in spite of the recession

• Women believe that for most items the cheapest prices are available online. The exceptions are groceries, clothes and shoes, and cosmetics.

• The high street is still a winner for women when it comes to customer service and waiting times to receive an item.

Is online or the high street the best for each of these aspects of shopping?

• 65% of women agree with the statement “Given the cost of petrol/ parking/public transport, it’s normally cheaper to buy online and pay a bit extra for delivery.”

• 69% of women shop around for the best price and low delivery cost.

• 56% of women said they worry about online fraud when they shop online.

Half of the respondents would like advertising to be more relevant to specific parts of the website, such as fashion advertising in the fashion channel.

Average female internet usage

The number of women active online over the past year increased by 10 per cent and they marginally increased their share of the online audience. Activity levels online increased significantly with the average female surfer engaging in 18 per cent more online sessions, visiting 17 per cent more websites and viewing 39 per cent more web pages.

Brands/applications with the largest number of female visitors

As females make up half of the online population, the sites with the largest number of female visitors mirrors that of the most popular sites, overall. Interestingly, Facebook is the only one of the 10 most popular sites whose audience is predominantly female (52 per cent).

Brands/applications with the largest concentration of female visitors amongst their audience

The most female-centric sites are very niche, at least 90 per cent of the audience is female but the sites rarely attract more than 50,000 UK visitors. Cosmetic sites dominate the list although the two most female-centric are extremely contrasting in subject material – baby nutrition and alcohol.

Top 15 UK forums by volume of online message posts written by women

The forums with the greatest number of posts written by women are around parenting. The web is a fantastic resource for women to provide information and advice around parenting, organising communities, socialising and building relationships. However, it’s not just parenting. Finance, entertainment and health forums also appear amongst those with the most active female posters.

Weekly online activities most likely to be accounted for by women

Women online are increasingly tech-savvy and helping drive the next-generation use of the internet as a medium for television and video. Downloading a TV programme or podcast are weekly activities online with the greatest likelihood of being done by women rather than men.

Search engines most used by women:

• Google (81%)

• Yahoo! (6%)

• MSN (6%)

• When it comes to saving useful search results, women are more likely (58%) to make use of browser bookmarking than to search again or use a social bookmarking service.

• Women are more likely to use a search engine to find a company they know the name of (85%) than to guess the website address (15%)

• The vast majority of women (93%) say they look first at the ‘natural search’ results rather than sponsored links (7%)

• The majority of women (95%) also say that the ‘natural search’ results are the most relevant – only 5% said sponsored links were the most relevant results

• 34% of women will click through three pages of search results

• 52% of women will change their search terms and try again if they don’t find the results they want on the first results page

• Only 14% of women said they had accessed a search engine from their mobile compared with 26% of men

Source: Lightspeed Research 2008

* Some images have been removed due to their size, to view the full interrupted handbook please download the PDF version.

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