A third of AU businesses taking orders online

Nearly a third of Australian businesses received orders over the internet during the financial year ending in June 2013, new Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show.

The total value of online orders during the year grew almost $10 billion from the year before to nearly $250 billion.

While 30% of Australian businesses took orders online, there was a wide disparity between sectors. Curiously, only around 19% of businesses in the financial services sector received orders online.

This compares to 52% for the information, media and telecom industry, 50% in wholesale trade, 48% in manufacturing and 38% in the retail sector.

Karen De Angelis, executive director of IT services provider DST Bluedoor, said financial service organisations will need to invest more in IT to keep up with the competition.

“As more and more Australians move to mobile devices and transact over the internet, the financial services sector needs to lift its game and conduct more of its own processes online, including receiving orders,” she said.

The ABS data also shows that 26% of all Australian businesses had a social media presence, almost double the 18% rate of a year earlier.

Image courtesy of Gareth Saunders under CC