Internet sales rose by 30 per cent in 2007
Coverage: United Kingdom

2007 e-commerce Survey of Business
Internet sales by UK businesses rose to £163bn in 2007, figures published  by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show.
This is an increase of just over 30 per cent on the 2006 figure of £125.2bn.
The results of the 2007 e-commerce survey, which was based on businesses with 10 or more employees, show large increases in the value of trade over the Internet and some levelling off in growth in the use of some Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), such as computers, Internet access and websites. Saturation is being reached by most business groups in these ICTs.
Key findings of the survey include:
• Internet sales represented 7.7 per cent of the total value of all sales by non-financial sector businesses in 2007.
• Internet sales accounted for 39.3 per cent of the value of sales over all ICTs in 2007, up from 35.7 per cent in 2006.
• 30.4 per cent of the value of all purchases made by non-financial sector businesses were made over the Internet or other ICTs in 2007.
• 60.8 per cent of businesses used the Internet to interact with public authorities, such as government departments and local and regional authorities in 2007, an increase of nearly 18 per cent since 2006.

• 70.3 per cent of businesses had a website
There are significant differences in the rate of adoption of newer ICTs between the largest and smallest businesses. Supply chain management systems were used by 33.4 per cent of businesses with 1000 or more employees in 2007, compared with only 4.2 per cent of businesses with 10 to 49 employees.

While the largest businesses have led the way with the adoption of ICTs, the smallest businesses have closed the gap with the use of more established ICTs such as Internet access and websites.

Online shops are here to stay and are growing. Ensure that your business does not get left behind.

E-commerce is having a huge impact on the way we do business. It can lead to dramatic growth in trade, increase markets, improve efficiency and effectiveness and can transform business processes

In the UK 2007 :

• 4.4m people spent a total of £84m online on Christmas Day - 269% more than last year and an average of £19.09 per shopper. [Source: IMRG]
  
  
• Despite its woes on the high street, online sales at Marks & Spencer rose by 78% in the 13 weeks up to December 29. [Source: M&S)
  
  
• The UK's online shoppers reportedly spent £767,500 in just 60 seconds at 1.09pm on December 10th. [Source: Retail Solutions]
  
  
• Figures for the whole of December are unavailable as yet, but online spending reached £5.4bn in November. This equates to £891 spent online for every person in the UK, and was an increase of 65% over November 2006. [Source: IMRG]

Data from the Office for UK National Statistics show that the value of Internet sales to UK households rose fourfold to £21.4 billion between 2002 and 2005..

Data supplied by the Ofice of National Statistics