UK shopoholics spearhead ecommerce boom

NEWS Official figures released on Wednesday show that online spending in the UK boomed in 2001. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which has published new results from its 2001 ecommerce survey, UK businesses - excluding the financial sector - sold £18.4bn of goods and services via the internet in 2001. This is the equivalent of one per cent of the non-financial sector's total sales throughout the year. The ONS found that large companies enjoyed the bulk of the fruits of ecommerce. Firms that employed more than 1,000 staff had online sales of £8.8bn. In contrast, firms employing fewer than 10 people achieved total online sales of just £1.4bn. Almost two-thirds - £11.8bn - of this £18.4bn was business-to-business online sales, with online business-to-consumer ecommerce totalling around £6.6bn. Firms employing fewer than 10 people were not included in the 2000 ecommerce survey. When excluded from the 2001 results, the ONS's figures show a 42 per cent increase in online sales last year compared to 2000. According to ecommerce minister Stephen Timms, this increase in online spending in 2001 is proof that ecommerce has a bright future. "These new figures show that ecommerce was not just the latest fad, but is becoming part of everyday business. Dot-com doom-mongers should eat their words," said Timms in a statement. "This massive increase in online sales means that businesses and consumers are exploiting the new opportunities and benefits that ecommerce offers," he added. The ONS excluded finance companies from the 2001 survey because it is reviewing how it captures e-commerce activity and turnover in this sector. Graeme Wearden writes for ZDNet.co.uk