Businesses send Brit web shopping to £71bn

Many of those predictions made during the dot-com boom are finally coming true, according to government figures.

The Office of National Statistics has revealed that during 2004 the value of internet sales rose year-on-year by 81 per cent, from 2003's figure of £39.3bn to £71.1bn.

Businesses showed a significant increase in web shopping presence, with 6.7 per cent of companies using the internet to sell in 2004, compared to 5.3 in 2003. Larger corporations – those with 1,000 or more staff – are more likely to use the web as a shop window, with 32 per cent selling over the internet in 2004.

Businesses also represent the largest group of web shoppers – of the £71.1bn spent online in 2004, £62.4bn was accounted for by business spending.

They also saw a huge rise in broadband usage between 2003 and 2004, the ONS found. In 2004, 42 per cent of companies used fat pipes for internet access, compared to 25 per cent in 2003.