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UK businesses encouraged to harness web to make sales

Thursday, June 21, 2012 - 15:10 by Mike Price

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A report from the European Commission suggests that less than a fifth of companies based in the UK are taking advantage of the popularity of safe shopping online to offer their goods and services to consumers through e-commerce.

The Digital Agenda Scoreboard report found that there is a major discrepancy between just how many Brits use their PCs and portable devices to purchase products from the web and the number of companies that are actually on hand to benefit from this growing market.

Seventy one per cent of people use e-commerce services, contrasted against the 14.9 per cent of UK companies that use the selling power of the internet.

The UK is still a European leader when it comes to safe shopping online, with 81 per cent of us heading online at least once every seven days.

There are a number of targets outlined by the EU in relation to e-commerce and on the consumer side of things, the UK has more than exceeded goals, but it seems that small and medium businesses are lagging behind.

The EU had said that 33 per cent of member states' companies should be selling products and services over the web, but the UK is still at less than half this level.

The Eurozone crisis is one which has caused much heartache and strife across the continent, although the EC has found that there is enough economic potential in the online market, to actually stimulate growth.

The main roadblock to a digitally fuelled European economy is formed by a combination of inadequate internet infrastructure improvements and a deficit of skilled workers to bring this field to life, according to the EC.

As such, the UK needs to take the lead when it comes to e-commerce, with businesses catching up to consumer demand.