Out-Law / Your Daily Need-To-Know

Statistics on value of UK e-commerce

13 Sep 2001, 12:00 am

According to the UK Office of National Statistics (ONS), sales totalling £56.6 billion were made last year over the internet by UK business of which financial institutions accounted for over 77%. However, the findings have been labelled inaccurate by internet research firm Forrester.

Among other findings in the ONS report based on trading in 2000:

Businesses in London and the South East each made internet sales of over £12 billion;
UK businesses made purchases of £19.6 billion over the internet;
Only 600 businesses conducted more than 50% of their activity over the internet;
50% of all UK businesses have a web site;
8% of businesses use broadband connections.

According to David Metcalf, a Forrester analyst quoted by ZD Net news, the real value of business conducted over the internet in 2000 is only around £11 billion; the figure of £56 billion is, in Metcalf’s opinion, distorted by the inclusion of financial trading figures. Forrester believes that B2C, non-financial sales accounted for only £2 billion of the total figure.