Ofcom’s sixth International Communications Market report study reveals that more consumers in the UK use the internet for shopping than other major countries.
It has increased exponentially as the UK customers are paying lower prices for their communications than many consumers across the world, it added.
It has been found that 79% of UK users had said they had ordered goods or services online in 2010, higher than any other European country. UK internet users are also more inclined to visit retail websites online than other countries, with 89% claiming to do so in 2011.
Smartphone ownership, which went up from 24% to 46% in the UK, between February 2010 and August 2011 was higher than the other European countries surveyed.
Besides, the number of people using their mobiles to go online was also higher in the UK with 46% of internet users here using their phones to go online in October 2011. This was highest for any other country surveyed.
UK consumers were also more likely to play games on their phone, with 34% admitting to it. Around 25% of UK mobile users accessed news content on their mobiles, which is much higher than in other European countries.
However, only 19% UK broadband subscribers used services such as Skype to make internet phone calls, compared with 28% in Italy and 26% in France.
About 27% of UK internet users say they watched TV online every week, which is higher than any of the other countries surveyed.
It is also more like that UK consumers will visit social networking sites on a mobile phone than other countries, with 43% accessing them over phones compared to just 30% in the US.
Overall, the price of mobile phone services in the UK were 36% lower than in the next least expensive country in France and were 10 per cent lower than a year previously.
Also, availability of high-speed fixed-line broadband networks in the UK ranks favourably when compared to other European countries, though only 4% of UK households subscribed to superfast services in June 2011, compared with 4% in Japan and 10% in the US.
Ofcom Chief Executive Ed Richards said that across the globe people were taking to e-commerce and social media with enthusiasm.
"Our research shows that the UK communications market is performing well with prices, the range of services and innovation standing up well against international benchmarks," Richards added.