E Commerce as a Statistic

The IMRG (Interactive Media Retail Group) the body representing e-tailers say that Britain's top high street stores are lagging in investing in online shopping even though spending on the Internet is increasing. According to James Roper, Chief Executive of IMRG, Internet shopping in 2004 currently accounts for 6% of total retail spending and is predicted to rise to approximately 10% by the end of 2005.

On the subject of e-commerce statistics it is interesting to see that Actinic (an e-commerce software provider) have produced a report showing that three quarters of retail sites made a profit in 2004, compared with just half in 2003.

With results like this it is clear to see that Internet spending is increasing. The report also shows that according to the fourth annual survey 0f 539 retailers with and without web sites, 40% of e-commerce businesses were online start-ups.

Most astonishingly however was the statistic provided in the report that only 42% of businesses with an online presence actually enabled orders to be taken on their web sites. This can be down to a number of reasons such as lack-of-know how, resistance to change, fear of failure or financial constraints.

One final statistic from the Actinic report stated that 5% fewer companies have firm plans to set up an etail operation in 2004 than in 2003 (down from 14%). More companies said it was due to lack of resources rather than for business reasons like lack of customer demand or unsuitability of products for selling online.