(August 10 – 10:45 ET) – According to results released by Statistics Canada today, the Internet is widely used but little transacted upon so far in Canada.
Statscan says a majority of Canadian businesses uses e-mail and the Internet, but only one out of 10 companies used the Internet to sell goods and services in 1999, and these sales amounted to just 0.2% of their total economic activity. The total value of customer orders received over the Internet, with or without online payment, amounted to $4.4 billion in 1999.
No industry sector estimated Internet sales higher than 1.5% of that sector’s total sales. Internet-based sales were 1.3% of total operating revenue in accommodation and food services, 1% in information and cultural industries, 0.8% in professional, scientific and technical services, and less than 0.5% in all other industrial sectors.
Manufacturers received $900 million in orders on the Internet, about 22% of overall private sector Internet-based sales, representing just 0.2% of manufacturing shipments in 1999. Retailers had Internet sales worth $610.6 million in 1999, 15% of total Internet sales and only 0.2% of total retail sales in 1999.In the U.S., retailers sold US$5.2 billion worth of goods and services on the Internet during the fourth quarter of 1999, 0.6% of total sales in the U.S. retail sector for the quarter.
In the finance and insurance sector 89.8% of firms use computers, 75.5% use e-mail, 65.9% use the Internet, and 27.2% have a Web site. Only 12.7% of companies use the Internet to buy or sell goods. However the firms that do use the Net account for 39.5% of economic activity in the sector. Total online sales in 1999 amounted to $320.8 million, out of $222.5 billion in operating revenue, or just 0.1% of revenue. Finance and insurance includes banks, securities brokerages, insurance carriers and pension funds.
-IE Staff