Brits’ Spare Time is a Click Away
23 May 2010
Busy Brits are saving themselves more than four days a year - by
using the internet, according to a new study.
Banking, shopping and even looking for a tradesman used to take up
almost ten days of every year. But thanks to the internet,
the same jobs done online now take the average Brit just over five
days a year - saving an average of one hour and 55 minutes each
week.
That's the equivalent of just over eight hours a month or more
than four days each year.
Shopping is the most popular activity people now use the internet
for to save them time, followed by banking and searching for maps
or directions.
Roman Russocki, Chief Executive of TrustMark, the largest database
of accredited tradesmen in the UK which carried out the survey,
said: "It seems the days of trekking to the shops and spending ages
waiting in a queue are over thanks to the internet.
"It may not seem like you are saving time, but when you add
everything up it really can make a difference to your day.
"Everything from banking to shopping can be done online, as well
as other time-consuming jobs such as looking for a tradesman or
getting an insurance quote.
The study of 3,000 Brits revealed that the average adult spends
almost two hours a week travelling to the high street and trawling
the shops, but those who do this online see that time halved to
just 66 minutes.
The time spent on the weekly food shop is also cut in half, going
from 117 minutes to just an hour and six minutes if done over the
internet.
And without the internet, travelling to the bank and queuing to
see a cashier accounts for almost 21 minutes a week, but that is
slashed to just 13 minutes if done online.
Half of those surveyed even said they only ever go into a bank
nowadays to pay in a cheque, while another 36 per cent only go in
every now and then.
On top of that, the time spent shopping around for a holiday is
halved going from two hours and 15 minutes each year to just one
hour and four minutes by using the internet.
Looking for a tradesman or contractor is also slashed by almost
a quarter from more than 25 minutes a year to just over 19.
Roman Russocki from TrustMark added: "We all know that finding a
tradesman can be a time-consuming job if you have to ask around
friends, family and neighbours or trawl through directories.
But it doesn't have to be this way - our database, with its handy
postcode search tool, is quick and easy to use and can really help
you save time."
Top ten online activities
- Shop for clothes, DVDs etc
- Banking
- Look for directions/maps
- Look for/book holidays
- Pay bills
- Look for insurance quotes
- Visit social networking sites
- Look up contact details
- Look for properties
- Food shopping
Offline vs online: time spent (in minutes)
| Shopping (per year) | 6,188 (199 per week) | 3,432 (66 per week) |
| Food shopping (per year) | 6,084 (117 per week) | 3,432 (66 per week) |
| Banking (per year) | 1,073.28 (20.64 per week) | 655 (12.56 per week) |
| Look for/book a holiday (per year) | 135 | 114.6 |
| Look for contact details (per year) | 14.67 | 10.23 |
| Look for maps/directions (per year) | 20.36 | 10.36 |
| Look for tradesman (per year) | 25.07 | 19.8 |
| Get insurance quotes (per year) | 193.2 | 68.4 |
| Total (per year in minutes) | 13,733.58 | 7,740.51 |
| Total (per year in days) | 9.53 | 5.37 |
* The fieldwork was undertaken amongst 3,000 in April 2010 by OnePoll on behalf of TrustMark.