Who said Internet trade is pretty small beer in Australia? (Gerry Harvey, for one, we seem to recall). In fact online business is booming down under, the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistic show.
The figures show Internet orders in Australia rose 15 percent in FY 2009-10 to just under $143 billion.
Stats says the figures show wholesale and manufacturing industries continued their lead as the main businesses receiving online orders, both at over 40 percent. Retail sales came in at fifth place.
The report shows nearly all (94 percent) of Australia’s large businesses had a Web presence at June 30, 2010.
Web site or no Web site, some 44 percent of Australian businesses reported they were undertaking some form of innovation, including developing or introducing new or significantly improved goods, services, processes or methods.
To no-one’s great surprise, large businesses were more than twice as likely to undertake innovative activity than micro businesses (74 percent compared to 36 percent).
Wholesale trade was the most innovative, with almost 60 percent of such businesses reporting some form of innovation. Innovation in the agriculture, forestry and fishing industry was reported by about one-third of those businesses.
The report can be downloaded from the ABS Web site, www.abs.gov.au.
