Thread: Internet Usage amoungst the Spanish

Hello all, New to the Fourm as you can see.

Thinking of moving over to your neck of the woods in the somewhat not too distant future.

I have a business in mind and need a couple of questions answering from locals over there.

First one is internet usage in Spain by the Spanish. In the UK nearly everyone shops online, or does online searches for items before committing to buy. Anything can be found online in the UK, is this a similar case in Spain, is online buying as common as in the UK or are they more traditional and will search their local area/high street so to speak when making purchases.

Hope you understand where I'm coming from as the business I intend to set up would be mostly online aimed at local Spanish primarily. Just need to know if they spend as much time buying online as us Brits and other Europeans do.

Thanks in advance of your replies.

Good morning Andy, welcome to the Absolute Spain Forum. I have no idea about the buying habits of the locals sorry don't know any of them well enough to have discovered. This is a very 'keep to yourself' urb.

I am sure though that some members will be able to answer your questions.

Typically a Spaniard would rather go to a shop and buy things, however there are more and more online places starting up and offering competitive prices (especially in the electrical/IT side of things). The main downside though is the automated payment side generally sucks, they prefer you to pay at their shop or do a bank transfer.. payment using a card incurs a fee

There are price comparison websites here which are helpful and don't forget that you can buy most things online from anywhere in Europe (or even the US) and don't incur much shipping costs (unless you're buying a fridge or something!)

I think a lot depends on the kind of product you're selling

Thanks for the reply. That's the sort of information I need. Will wait to hear a few other peoples views. Thanks again.

First off, you need to get your head round the idea that the majority of Spaniards except perhaps in places like Madrid, Barcelona and more trendy parts of the costas do not have the mania for buying the latest gizmos, in many cases not even the young do it. The average Spaniard is quite conservative and will stick with what is tried and tested and frequently will continue to use what his/her parents used. There is no need to have the latest "in colour" if whatever is already there serves its purpose.

Far more sales are made to the (forgive me Val) expat communities who have to have the latest ixxxxx, the latest fashions, etc. As I said the average Spaniard is quite conservative especially clothes-wise. If you see a T shirt, bat's wings, shorts and wads of cellulite flapping in the breeze - you can be 99% certain that it is a Brit approaching.

There isn't even a Spanish branch of Amazon - Spanish language items are dealt with from the USA.

Out of interest what are the Spanish like about their cars. Do they like to keep them nice and shiney and add aftermarket accessories by any chance? Also are there many Japanese brand pick-up trucks around your areas?

Thanks in advance.

I guess thats probably the case in the campo but everywhere I've ever been to (aside from the middle of nowhere) there are flocks of teenagers/non brits in all the latest gear and buying the latest "gizmos"

If what you are saying is true how would Zara be the or one of the most succesful businesses in Spain?

Originally Posted by andy.w

Out of interest what are the Spanish like about their cars. Do they like to keep them nice and shiney and add aftermarket accessories by any chance? Also are there many Japanese brand pick-up trucks around your areas?

Thanks in advance.

Think back about 30 years in the tuning market and you're about right, cars are a lot more expensive here and tuning normally involves getting an old banger and putting some stickers and a Halfrauds style tailpipe trim on it

Also bear in mind that the Spanish cant' drive for toffee and definitely can't park so most cars are covered in dents and scratches. The roads are normally badly made up and narrow and carpark spaces are tiny - hence the influx of Smart cars

Yep, The Spanish are quite wary of online transactions, will maybe buy an airline ticket from Iberia but mention that Ryanair will do the flight at a quarter of the price and they say they don't trust it (even though you say that you have done it loads of times!!)

They seem to trust Facebook though s they give out far too much information on there.

Baldilocks..I was also amazed that Amazon doesn't have a Spanish site.... one of the most spoken languages in the world