Women: Internet Is Indispensable

Women not only outnumber men online but also rely on the internet for the conduct of their daily lives – so much so, that two-thirds (66.1%) of online women say their lives would be disrupted if they were left without internet access for a week, according to a recent Burst Media survey.

Some 66.1% of surveyed women say their daily routine would be disrupted – and 43.6% say significantly so – if internet access were not available for a week, according to Burst, which in June surveyed some 1,800 women age 25+ who visit content sites.

Those findings were consistent among women of all surveyed age segments and similar among all household-size segments, Burst reports.

Among household income (HHI) segments, 77.9% of those with HHI of $100,000+ say their routine would be disrupted without access, according to the survey.
 
Burst found that over 80% of surveyed women were online during most dayparts:

• Morning and afternoon are mostly for work:
  • Four out of five online women go online between 7am and midnight.
  • 53.1% of women 65 years and older say they are online before 7am.
  • All age segments are online 7am to noon (41.0% primarily for work, one-third for personal use) and noon to 4 p.m. (40.1% primarily for work, one-third for personal use).
• Evening is for personal use:
  • Most women remain online 4 p.m.-7 p.m. and the evening (7 p.m.-midnight).
  • Those who say they are online for personal use increases to 52.0% between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. (when one out of 10 is online for family purposes)
  • 70.8% say they are online for personal use between 7 p.m. and  midnight.
• Women have dibs on home computer use:
  • Two-thirds of women (66.3%) say they are first in line to use the home’s computer.
  • Among the remaining one-third, 60.9% say another adult is first in line; 39.1% say children are first in line.
  • However, 81.3% of women in two-person households say they are first in line to use the home computer.
  • Only 54.8% of women in households of 3-4 members, and 52.2% in those with 5+ members, say they are first in line to use the home computer.

Product research the internet is the most important medium, according to the Burst survey:

• For products they might purchase, 54.5% of online women say the internet is their primary source of information.
• Family and friends (10.9%), newspapers and magazines (9.9%), television (5.8%), brochures/pamphlets (5.1%), and radio (1.3%) all trail significantly behind.
• Among women 65+, three of 10 (31.8%) say the internet is their primary product-information resource.

Half of women have shopped online; travel and clothing top list of purchases, according to Burst:

• Over half of women (54.1%) say they shopped online in the previous six months; a similar proportion say so among all age and household size segments.
• HHI is a determinant: 48.7% of those reporting HHI of less than $35,000 say they had shopped online, compared with 68.0% among households with income of $100,000+.
• Travel (37.5%) topped the list of products and services purchased online, followed by adult clothing (32.4%), health and beauty products (27.0%), children’s/teen’s clothing (18.8%), financial products (15.0%), and food and groceries (14.9%).