Australian businesses racked up $143 Billion dollars in online orders in the 2009/10 Financial Year according to the latest research from the ABS. This represents an almost 15% jump on the previous 12 month period.
To put this in context…
- It is almost 3 times the annual turn over of BHP Billiton
- It is 11% of Australia’s GDP for the same period
- It is almost $6,500 per man woman and child in Australia.
So where have we spent all this money?
Well it may come as a surprise but online retailing only accounted for $16.9 Billion (that’s still a very big number and represents about 5.7% of the total Australian retail market which Forrester Research estimate is worth $292 Billion)
In fact the majority of this comes from Business to Business transactions. In fact almost half (46.5%) of all businesses place their orders on-line.
the moral of this story, is that if you are a business who deals with other businesses as a wholesaler, manufacturer, distributor or supplier then you need to make it easy for your clients to do business with you.
Australian Online Retail Forecast, 2010 To 2015 - Retailers Will Move Quickly To Serve Australia’s Keen Online Shoppers
Extract:
Australian online retail sales will almost double from A$16.9 billion in 2009 to A$33.3 billion in 2015. At its core, the development of online retail in Australia requires two factors: increasing consumer demand and retailers that are increasingly able to supply. Australia has both. The federal government plans to make gigabit broadband available to 93% of households, up from almost none in December 2009. And even without this investment, Australian consumers have signaled their willingness to shop online. As the current surge in Australian online retail continues, the market will place greater demands on retailers. In particular, competition will become aggressive, customer expectations will soar, and capacity constraints will become acute
ABS -Australian businesses take $143 billion worth of internet orders
Extract:
Just under $143 billion dollars worth of internet orders were received by Australian businesses in 2009-10, up 15% on the previous year, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Wholesale trade and manufacturing industries continued their lead as the main businesses receiving online orders, both at over 40%. The retail industry came in at fifth place.
Nearly all (94%) of Australia’s large businesses had a web presence at 30 June 2010, while micro businesses (employing up to four people) are still the least likely to, with only about one-third offering some form of web presence. Broadband dominated as the internet access method (97%), with little variation between industries.