3 Resources |
3.11 E-commerce |
Why is it
significant?
E-commerce
gives businesses the opportunity to make improvements to their internal
processes, shorten their supply chains and reduce the cost of processing
transactions.
It lowers search costs by increasing access to, and lowering the
cost of, information, for both business and consumers.
How does the UK perform? The
DTI’s Business in the Information Age: An International Benchmarking
Study 2001 shows that 49 per cent of UK businesses either allow their
customers to order on-line, or order
from their suppliers on-line themselves.
Of the G7 countries, this is behind the US, Germany and Canada (Chart
3.11.1).
In terms of on-line payment, 27 per cent of UK businesses either
allow their customers to make payment on-line or pay their suppliers
themselves on-line.
This places the UK behind only Germany in comparison to its G7
competitors.
For both measures of on line trading, the UK’s level of activity
is lower than it was last year. |
Last updated on 20 November 2003