Shoppers buying over the Internet and by mail order have been the most enthusiastic early users of the euro, according to credit card payment figures.

Visa International said distance-buying through e-mail, post or telephone accounted for 13 per cent of the value of credit card transactions where customers chose to pay in euros rather than national currencies.

"Internet users, who are characteristically sophisticated in terms of embracing new technology, are taking advantage of the transparency of using euros when shopping across borders," said Mr Hasan Alemdar, head of Visa International's single currency unit.

Although notes and coins denominated in euros will not be introduced until 2002, individuals can choose to pay in euros using credit cards or euro cheque accounts, where available.

More than 1 million individual credit card transactions, worth a combined €30 million (£23.6 million), have taken place on Visa cards since the euro's launch in January, the company said, with travellers within the European Union among the heaviest users. Most euro transactions have involved cross-border sales, using cards based in a different country to where the transaction took place.

France has seen the largest number of euro card transactions and the highest value of sales, primarily on motorway and bridge tools by Belgian and Spanish card holders. Some 7 per cent of Spanish card payments in Europe have been in euros since the start of the year.