Want To Shop For Your Christmas Dinner Online?

The MSN E-Commerce Map of Britain reveals you can buy turkeys anywhere, but sprouts are hard to find

Nation's East-West 'e-vide' identified for first time

When it comes to food shopping online, Britain suffers from an East-West 'e-vide' according to new research released today (Monday 20 December). The MSN E-Commerce Map of Britain also reveals that anyone planning to buy Christmas food supplies on the Internet will have no problem finding a turkey - but fresh sprouts are in short supply online. And if you'd rather avoid the traditional dinner and order online for Britain's favourite meal, curry - forget it!

With widespread predictions that Britain is expecting its first e-Christmas, MSN.co.uk put the e-commerce hype to the ultimate test by seeing how well e-tailers are meeting the challenge of providing food to shoppers. Virtual shopping trips were conducted in 20 locations across Britain for five different foodstuffs: groceries, fresh fruit and vegetables, lunch, pizza, and curry.

The results of the nationwide study, conducted by MORI, have been incorporated into a map for the report and reveal that:

• There is an East-West 'e-vide' - an imaginary line running from the River Tees to the Isle of Wight. People to the East of the line are more likely to have Internet access, and can buy a wider range of food online.
• Small towns and cities East of the e-vide like Luton, Reading and Cambridge, are better served than major cities like Birmingham, Manchester or Glasgow to the West.
• London's West End is the only place tested where all five categories of food are available. However even within the capital coverage is patchy - five miles to the west in Chiswick, only groceries, fresh fruit and veg, and pizza were on offer.
• Although we eat 500,000 curries a day, researchers could not find one Indian restaurant or take-away selling meals online.
• Not all of Britain can buy Christmas dinner supplies on the Net - frozen turkey was available in all 20 locations tested, but fresh sprouts could only be bought in six.

Judy Gibbons, director of MSN who commissioned the research, said: "E-commerce services are moving fast and increasing exponentially. The acid test is food - fresh or hot - and MSN's research puts a stake in the ground showing which services the consumer can expect in different parts of the country."

"These findings are surprising but not totally unexpected. It seems that millions of potential net shoppers may currently be disappointed but they should remain optimistic. Demand will only increase as Internet access spreads through a wider range of devices and I see this as a great opportunity for both customers and e-tailers."

Technical details

MSN.co.uk commissioned MORI to conduct research over the Internet to determine what foodstuffs can be bought online across Britain. Five products were selected in 20 predetermined residential postcode locations resulting in 100 shopping 'trips'. Over 700 web sites were searched and the search for each product category at a single location was limited to one hour. Attempts were made to replicate an ordinary shopping trip, so supermarkets and high street greengrocers were included but suppliers of organic fruit and veg boxes were not. Research was conducted between 7-20 November. Internet access figures for Great Britain are based on 3,999 interviews with adults aged 15+ conducted as part of the MORI Technology Tracker.