A study of consumer habits from across the globe has found that the birth of a child is one of the biggest factors in convincing people to shop online for the first time, according to Internet Retailing.

The Dunnhumby report revealed that amongst the products that are most popular as first time e-commerce purchases, those related to looking after a newborn child are at the top of the list.

Baby milk was singled out as being the top item purchased via safe shopping online for customers embarking on their initial e-commerce outing. And this statistic also rings true in places like China and Brazil, where online sales are almost doubling each year.

In the UK, too, there are many people who use the internet to shop for the first time and make baby milk, baby food and other infant care products a top priority.

The other interesting fact revealed in the study is that just one per cent of the global population using e-commerce will only access online shopping from a single device. The vast majority have embraced multichannel retail and will make purchases from mobiles, tablets, desktop PCs and laptops.

Young, affluent people with young children are being targeted by the most successful brands at the moment, as this is the demographic that is most likely to spend their money online and in large quantities, according to analysts.

Report spokesperson, Julian Highley, said that one of the benefits of online shopping for new parents is that it allows them to make purchases from home at any time of the day or night, rather than being forced to take account of the opening hours of bricks and mortar stores. He described the items purchased for babies as being gateway products, that lead to the development of wider online habits.