A recent post on the Google Small Business Blog has revealed that the UK is number one in the world for e-commerce.
We are… *drum roll*… ‘The Connected Kingdom’.
At the request of Google, a report was carried out by The Boston Consulting Group (BGC), advisor of business strategy & growth, to analyse of the impact of the Internet on the UK economy.
Here are some of the findings;
- In 2009, the Internet contributed £100 billion to the UK economy. That represents 7.2 percent of GDP
- The UK is the number one country in the world for e-commerce and is a net exporter of e-commerce goods and services, exporting £2.80 for every £1 imported
- The Internet economy is expected to grow by 10 percent per year
- Small business online sales are growing by 43 percent every year
- London, the East of England and Scotland are ‘hotspots’ for online UK businesses
- Internet companies employ ¼ of a million people in the UK
The report also highlighted some interesting trends;
- 73 percent of UK homes now have broadband
- Over half of new internet users last year were over 50 years old
- 30 percent of people access the internet via their mobile phone
- In the internet league table, the UK is at number 6. Higher than the US, Germany and France (based on three main factors: the ease of access to the Internet, the amount spent on the Internet, and the level of engagement people have with the Internet)
Perhaps the most staggering finding in the report is that in recent years, businesses that have embraced the Internet have seen four times the growth in sales than businesses that haven’t.
To view and download the report in full, vist www.connectedkingdom.co.uk
