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The study, conducted by PriceWaterhouseCoopers for the Department of Trade and Industry, showed more than three quarters of retail businesses are adopting e-business technologies, whilst 23 per cent of retailers, and 56 per cent of micro-firms had not thought about the benefits e-commerce has to offer.
The report found e-commerce had helped business-to-business relations to improve and web-based technologies had created more opportunities for collaborative forecasting, planning and replenishment which had lead to cost savings and a faster process of getting products to customers.
Other findings from the survey showed:
- 70 per cent of companies are adopting e-commerce technologies;
- 71 per cent of businesses use external e-mail; and
- 53 per cent of firms have a website.
Stephen Timms, Minister for e-commerce and competitiveness, said: "Businesses are making progress in adopting e-commerce and developing e-business solutions, but clearly there is room for improvement and we cannot afford to be complacent. In order to exploit the wealth of benefits e-business technologies offer, we must help create the right culture throughout the business community so UK firms of all sizes can seize this competitive advantage."
The DTI came under fire earlier this year for announcing a second eight-week consultation process with industry over draft regulations to implement the EU e-commerce Directive two months after the original EU deadline.
The UK, where e-commerce is estimated to be worth £57 billion, joined all other EU member states in missing the 17 January deadline with the exception of: Austria, Finland, Germany, Ireland and Luxemburg.
A DTI spokesman said: "The delay is justified because it's too important not to get it right first time. We will be at the forefront of the next wave of countries to introduce the Directive, and estimate to have implemented it by the end of August."
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Richard Powell, © Shout99.com 2002
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