How UK Consumers Use The Net To Research And Buy Financial Products

The use of the Internet to both research and buy financial products has grown enormously in the UK over the past decade. As a result, the Internet is now a core distribution channel for most retail financial products and the dominant sales channel for some products, such as car insurance. Forty-three percent of UK adults have researched at least one financial product online during the past year, compared with 38% in 2007, and 28% have bought a financial product online, compared with 22% in 2007. Some senior executives have been slow to recognize this shift in customer behavior and slow to reorient their firms around online sales. They need to give eBusiness executives more clout within their organizations and the resources to make the most of this increasingly important channel. eBusiness executives must continue to optimize their sites for sales by designing with customers' goals in mind, offering interactive help, and following up with customers who abandon online applications.