Summary
The Ministry of Economic Development in August 2000 commissioned a survey, by BRC Marketing and Social Research, covering New Zealand business use of the Internet to provide background information for the Government's ecommerce strategy.
The survey indicates that New Zealand small to medium businesses are ahead of their Australian counterparts in exploiting the potential of the Internet.
Over two thirds (68%) of businesses are using email and one third have their own domain name and/or Web site. Only 7% indicate that they do not use computers at all. Almost all businesses with 20 or more staff (94%) are connected to the Internet and 68% have their own domain name or Web site.
After email, the leading use of the Internet is information gathering and research followed by ordering goods and services and online banking. Just over one in four businesses are using the Internet to sell goods and services.
The survey indicates that, although New Zealand businesses are well prepared, they have yet to come to grips with the implications of ecommerce. While two thirds of businesses claim to be engaged in some type of ecommerce with other organisations already, only about one in ten have integrated this activity with their internal business systems.
Ecommerce is seen as being important for information gathering, developing the customer base and maintaining competitiveness. However, despite the global reach of electronic commerce, only a minority of businesses site growing exports as being a major benefit.
No one issue stands out as inhibiting the take up of ecommerce. Leading factors sited are cost, lack of proven benefits, lack of skilled staff, concern about loss of contact with customers, and security issues.
The survey involved a telephone survey of 504 respondents and has a weighted margin of error of plus or minus 5.8%.
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