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By Pia Heikkila, 4 May 2000 00:20

NEWS UK ecommerce is failing to take off due to a basic lack of understanding about online retail and poorly managed ebusiness strategies. That's the conclusion of a survey commissioned by ecommerce software vendor, Clearcommerce, which found that only four per cent of UK businesses have appointed an ecommerce manager or a new media director. The study also revealed that the majority of UK companies' ecommerce strategies are devised by senior executives with little or no experience of ebusiness. Thomas Power, chief knowledge officer at E-cademy, told silicon.com that all management levels of UK plc urgently need an ecommerce wake-up call. "Not enough people understand what ecommerce is. Doing business, building communities of trusting customers is difficult and to succeed it takes time. Appointing an ecommerce manager is a vital part of the road to success," he said. Jim Norton, head of ecommerce at the Institute of Directors, said senior managers need to adopt a more "hands on" approach with ecommerce. "Any established company is not going to succeed unless the directors themselves are familiar with the technology. "There is no point of having an ecommerce director unless the senior managers understand what the technology is for and what the new media director is doing with it," said Norton. The research also revealed that ecommerce approaches vary across different industry sectors. Businesses in the financial services sector have the highest proportion of senior managers making decisions on new e-ventures, while insurance companies mostly rely on the IT department for strategic issues. The survey was conducted by market research company PCM and covered the banking, entertainment, insurance, media, tourism and transport sectors. The survey questioned 750 of the UK's largest companies in March of this year.