The reinforcement of the economic and digital gaps in online personal consumption in Spain

Abstract

This article focuses on the analysis of the virtualization processes of purchases of goods for personal use, delving into the degrees with which Spanish consumers have transferred their purchases from physical to virtual space, as well as the sociodemographic profiles most prone to virtualize these purchasing processes. The results come from a representative survey of the Spanish population conducted in 2016 with 2,800 Internet users and have subsequently been updated and supplemented through secondary sources. The research showed that online shopping was closely linked to the existence of a social category of "urban digital cosmopolitans", made up of young individuals, with good economic situation and high levels of education, who conceive the online medium as an expression and symbol of status. On the other hand, those most reluctant to virtualization of purchases are characterized by being subjected to a double digital and socioeconomic divide.