UK among global leaders in online commerce

OECD figures give UK business top spot

The UK is among the world’s leading economies for online commerce, according to research published this week by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Only Canadian, German and Swiss businesses carry out the same amount of online purchasing as the UK, and only Danish, Australian and Swedish companies conduct the same amount of online selling, says the OECD.

And in terms of online transaction value as a percentage of overall turnover, UK businesses average 15 per cent, second only to Ireland at 21 per cent.

‘The UK is doing particularly well because of the high uptake of technology by business,’ said OECD economist Sam Paltridge.

Both buying and selling are showing healthy growth, but online buying has the most potential, he says.

‘The biggest returns are expected to be on the purchasing side. The selling side has become so competitive that the margins are pretty slim, but on the purchasing side there are still lots of savings to be made,’ he said.

‘If you do a ranking by purchasing and selling, UK companies look very good in terms of their adoption of these technologies.’

The OECD research also covers global research and development (R&D) levels. Since 1997, annual R&D spending has grown faster in Europe – at a rate of 3.3 per cent – than in either Japan or the US, the world leaders. One of the reasons is the increasing trend for multinationals to set up R&D facilities in Europe, says the report.
Countries outside the OECD are becoming more important in driving global innovation. China is the third largest R&D investor behind the US and Japan.