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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