More local businesses are using e-commerce to sell their goods locally rather than in international markets, according to a new report. Is your business missing out on the dollars and opportunities presented by overseas markets?
According to the Australian Small Business Key Statistics Report, more local businesses are using e-commerce to sell locally rather than overseas. The report, compiled from data gathered by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and released by the Minister for Small Business, Nick Sherry, states that while 86 percent of small businesses use e-commerce to sell within their own city or town, only 24 percent sell overseas.
Medium businesses are selling online overseas more than small businesses, with 30 percent of sales going abroad. However according to the Sensis e-Business report, even among businesses that had computers, not all were connected to the internet, with 45 percent of those businesses saying they did not trust the safety of their information online.
Exporting is on the up for small businesses however. Just over 17, 500 businesses exported goods over the year 2009-10, up almost six percent from the previous year. Most of these exporters were from the wholesale trade sector.
Moving online has been a boon to most SMEs, suggesting that more should be trying out their businesses online. 63 percent of SMEs have said they recovered their investment in e-commerce while a further 11 percent say they expect to recover their investment in the next year.
This article first appeared on Dynamic Export.
