74% believes the High Street provides solace from isolation
The biggest paradox of our increasingly connected lives with sofa based shopping, smartphones becoming ubiquitous and instant access to information on just about anything is that it could also be creating greater social isolation. This is the view of over half of the respondents (57%) in a new national survey looking at the flipside of our increasingly online world, conducted by A-Plan, the high street insurance broker.
The good news is that local high streets such as those where A-Plan is located are seen as the antidote. 74% of people said that high street shops provide social interaction for people who might otherwise feel isolated – this figure rose to 80% in those respondents over 55. And in a further boost to traders on local high streets, the survey found that 91% feel it’s important to support local businesses and 26% of people visit the high street once a week.
Paul Ensor, PR Manager at A-Plan explained: “It’s 25 years since the world-wide-web was created, 20 years since the first ‘online shop’ and 15 years since the launch of eBay and as a business that is very focused on delivering a personal service, we wanted to gauge just how people feel about the online world we’re living in.
“The internet has brought a huge level of convenience, we can shop, book tickets, check out what our friends are up to but we still need and want the human element on occasion and when that’s missing it can lead to frustration and disappointment. Almost four in ten (39%) of the people we asked admitted to ending an online purchase because they had a query and couldn’t speak to anyone to solve it. And who bothers to read the terms and conditions in the haste to arrange a new motor policy or sort out the household insurance? Only 14% said they always do this. Perhaps not surprisingly, over 1 in 4 (26%) said they have bought something online that they later regretted because they didn’t check the detail closely enough.
“Buying insurance can sometimes be confusing, so the temptation to just go for a cheap deal and arrange it in a few clicks of the mouse is understandable. But if you talk to a local broker they will do the shopping around to find the best policy for your individual circumstances. A-Plan offers a face-to-face service, which allows our clients to ask questions and talk things through to help them make an informed decision. We are here to support local people and businesses by providing a personalised service, designed to help them find the protection they need.”
For more information, visit aplan.co.uk.
