Impact of e-commerce on the UK economy
Cecil Prescott
Head of Research& Development and
Information Technology, ONS
#UKecomStats
Outline• What is e-commerce & why is it important?
• How is e-commerce measured & collected?• Brief overview of methods• Concepts & collection
• Key statistics & findings for e-commerce in UK & EU• What is the current position• How has this changed over time?
• Possible future developments within e-commerce
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What is e-commerce?• An e-commerce transaction as defined by OECD is:
‘the sale or purchase of goods or services, conducted over computer networks by methods specifically designed for the
purpose of receiving or placing of orders’
underpinning this definition:
‘the goods or services are ordered by those methods, but the payment and the ultimate delivery of the goods or services do
not have to be conducted online’
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What is included within e-commerce?• As well as website sales & purchases - includes any form of
electronic business transaction
• E-commerce can be :• business to business• business to consumer• consumer to consumer
• E-commerce includes :• transactions of goods and services that can also be bought and sold using
other transaction modes• services that are only available as e-services, such as digital downloads, apps
and e-books
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How is e-commerce measured?E-commerce Survey of Business
• two main types of business estimates
E-commerce trading• Proportions of businesses doing e-commerce• Monetary e-commerce sales values• Proportion of total turnover in the economy from e-commerce
ICT use• Proportions of businesses using various types of Information and
Communication Technology (ICT)
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How is e-commerce collected?• Business Survey
• 11,000 businesses sampled for 2014• Businesses provide percentage of their turnover from website &
EDI sales• Results employment weighted and aggregated• Annual collection & publication
• Covers only certain sectors of the economy• Excludes financial, agriculture, mining, some services, finance and
public administration
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How is e-commerce collected?• Internet Access Survey
• Opinions and Lifestyle• 3,000 interviews in Great Britain
• Defined by European regulation• Harmonised surveys across Europe
• Questionnaires updated annually• Questionnaire requirements are defined by Eurostat model questionnaire
(MQ)• About 40% of the questions change each year to reflect changes in the use of
the internet & new technology• ONS take part in review process
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Indicators for monitoring e-commerce
• A - Key performance indicators• Headline figures on e-commerce performance (monetary value of sales &
proportion of turnover)
• B - Business engagement• Businesses activity associated with e-commerce (differences by size of
business, industry, access to websites, broadband etc.)
• C - Engagement by households & individuals• Activity associated with e-commerce (including use of mobile devices &
engagement with social media)
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B: Value of total e-commerce sales by industry
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B: Value of total e-commerce sales by size of business
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B: Proportion of businesses with a website by size of business
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C: Businesses’ use of social networks
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C – Location of sellers of good and services bought online
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C: Adults’ internet purchasing & internet access ‘on the go’
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COMPARISONS ACROSS THE EU
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How does online purchasing by individuals in the UK compare to other countries?
Percentage of individuals who purchased online in last 12 months, 2014
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Proportion of businesses’ turnover from e-commerce and website sales?
Proportion of businesses’ turnover accounted for by e-commerce and website sales, 2013
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