Almost $143 billion worth of internet orders were received by Australian businesses in the 2009-10 year, according to new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, with that figure representing a 15% jump from the year before.
But despite so much attention being placed on the retail industry in the recent debates over ecommerce, the ABS has found the wholesale trade and manufacturing industries were the sectors most likely to receive online orders, with 40% of businesses overall taking orders digitally.
Telsyte senior research manager Sam Yip says the information shows that ecommerce expands far beyond retail, and that all industries need to examine how they can start incorporating more aspects of their business online.
“It certainly goes beyond retail. If you do online ordering and subscriptions, you see that in the financial services industry and real-time trading. Those things come into play when you’re talking about online ordering.”
The ABS figures show the wholesale trade, manufacturing, IT and arts industries were the most likely to receive orders over the internet, with wholesale and manufacturing recording the highest proportion of businesses at 49% and 41% respectively. Overall, 46% of businesses received orders online.
The worst businesses at receiving online orders were the health and social assistance industries at just 7%, with agriculture, forestry & fishing and mining not far behind.
The retail industry came in fifth place.
The ABS found that while 94% of large businesses had a web presence, businesses with up to four employees are the least likely with only one third of those having any web presence at all.
Meanwhile, the proportion of all businesses placing orders was 46%, with the proportion of businesses placing orders online increasing with employment size. For businesses with up to four employees, 40% placed online orders, while 73% of businesses with more than 200 employees placed online orders.
The businesses most likely to place online orders were the IT, professional & scientific, wholesale and arts && recreation industries, followed closely by retail. The businesses least likely to place orders were the agriculture, forestry & fishing and transport industries.
Yip says while the definition of online ordering can change depending on who collects the data, he also says the new information reflects how important it is for smaller businesses to start offering services online.”
“I think the growth of online ordering allows businesses to participate in these sorts of activities and orders that previously weren’t within their reach.”
“I think this data is also not just a barometer of consumer spending – it goes beyond retail and takes into account other products, which are part of the industry as well.”
Meanwhile, the ABS also recorded the level of innovation within Australian businesses, saying that 44% of businesses recorded at least some type of innovation, which is defined as introducing new or improved goods, services, processes or methods.
The report found the proportion of innovation-active businesses increased with employment size. While the number of businesses with up to four employees innovating was just 30.5%, that increased to 49.5% for businesses with between 5-19 employees, to 56.6% for up to 60 employees and up to 69.7% for 200 or more employees.
Wholesale trade was found to the most innovative industry, with 60% of businesses recording some type of innovation, followed by the arts & recreation, manufacturing and retail industries. The transport, postal & warehousing and the agriculture, forestry & fishing industries were judged to be the least innovative.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
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