ATHENS, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- An overwhelming majority of Greek consumers have chosen Greek e-shops for their online purchases in 2018, Greek news portal "in.gr" reported on Tuesday, citing survey results.

The new figure of 80 percent, is significantly higher compared with the 60 percent reported in 2016.

Greeks used to prefer foreign e-shops for purchases, citing better prices and availability. Now the trend is in favor of local businesses, according to the survey conducted by the e-commerce laboratory of the Economic University of Athens and the Association of Business and Retail Sales of Greece.

Moreover, in the nine-month period this year, average online purchases went up by 20 percent compared with the corresponding period in 2017.

Four in ten Greeks started making online orders before 2010, while 25 percent joined in the past three years, after the implementation of capital controls in the summer of 2015, said the survey.

Half of the respondents said they booked a hotel using the internet this year, while four in ten ordered take-away food, clothing/footwear, electronic devices and books.

The survey was conducted on a sample of 1,512 online consumers in the period of October-November 2018.