Businesses’ online sales soared by over 80% year-on-year in 2004, according to official data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The value of internet sales rose to £71.1bn in 2004, 81% higher than the previous year’s total of £39.3bn.

Overall, 6.7% of firms sold their goods and services over the internet last year, compared to 5.4% in 2003. A further 35.3% of companies made purchases themselves via the web, totalling £62.4bn. This is up from 29.4% in 2003. Some 33.8% had a web site last year, compared to 30.7% in 2003. Meanwhile, some 42.3% of businesses incorporated broadband as their primary internet connection, a huge jump from the quarter of firms which used the technology in 2003.

Hang on - let’s go back a bit before we drown in numbers … 6.7% of firms sold their goods and services over the Internet last year. So if £71.1bn can be made by the 6.7%, the rest of the 93.3% of businesses who aren’t selling online are missing out on a potential £1trillion pot. Woohoo! Now that’s just a linear extrapolation - the reality would plateau out - just because more sites are selling online doesn’t mean that more people will show up to buy stuff (the old “if you build it they will come” argument). However, it does mean there is still a very large opportunity to be had by SMEs from trading online, and with professional help from the likes of their local Chamber of Commerce, the barriers to trading on the Web can easily be dismantled and many SMEs can benefit from an additional revenue stream.

Food for thought …

If you’re trading online already, or are thinking about it, we’d like to hear from you with a post on this topic