Online transactions in the UK reached £57bn in 2000, representing
over 2% of total sales.
The Office of National Statistics surveyed 9,000 UK businesses with
10 or more employees about their use of, and attitude towards, the
Internet and e-commerce.
The E-Commerce Inquiry, which defines an e-commerce transaction as
the method by which an order is placed, rather than the payment
method or the delivery channel, is the first national research of
its kind. It will be published annually.
Sales conducted over all electronic channels in 2000, including the
Internet and other "computer-mediated" networks such as electronic
data interchange, reached £161.75bn, or nearly 6% of total
sales.
The financial and insurance sector took the lion's share of
Internet sales, conducting an estimated £44bn worth of online
business. This figure rose to nearly £80bn when sales over all
other electronic channels were included.
The wholesale, retail and travel sectors sold £7.6bn worth of goods
online.
Although the majority of sales were business-to-business
transactions, only 16% of companies admitted to using the Internet
or other computer networks to make sales. Another 12% said they
intended to move into online sales within a year, but 70% said they
had no plans to sell through electronic channels within the coming
year.
Business-to-consumer transactions accounted for less than 20%
(about £10bn) of total sales, the vast majority of which were in
the financial sector.
Hazel Ward
hazel.ward@rbi.co.uk