1. Introduction

This Document is Archived

Electronic Commerce in New Zealand: A Survey of Business Use of the Internet

Information Technology Policy Group, Competition and Enterprise Branch

[ Last Updated 15 December 2005 ]

A survey of New Zealand businesses was commissioned by the Ministry of Economic Development to provide background information for the Government's ecommerce strategy. BRC Marketing and Social Research conducted a telephone survey of 506 respondents between 25 and 30 August 2000.

The sample was stratified so as to over represent large firms to enable indicative comparisons between small, medium and large businesses. The number of full time equivalent staff (FTES) was used as an indicator of business size when designing the sample. Since the overwhelming majority of New Zealand businesses are small, without this stratification too few large firms would have been included in the sample.

Throughout this report, total sample results have been weighted back to reflect the national distribution of firms by FTES size. All percentages quoted are based on weighted survey results. The margin of error for total results in this survey is plus or minus 5.8% at the 95% confidence level.

Tables 1.1 and 1.2 profile the nature of the sample used in the survey. Note that "location" is defined as the four main centres compared with provincial centres and rural areas, based on telephone districts.

Table 1.1: Profile of Respondents (Size and Annual Turnover)

Size (FTES)	Number sampled	Population*	Annual Turnover	Number sampled	Weighted**
		%			%
5 or fewer	217	86	< $500,000	102	39
6 to 19	135	9	$500,000 to $2m	137	31
20 and over	152	5	$2m and over	172	11
Don't know/refused	2	-	Don't know/refused	95	19
Total	506	100		506	100

* Actual size distribution of small, medium and large businesses in New Zealand as reported by Statistics New Zealand¹

** Throughout this report results quoted as percentages are weighted based on the actual size distribution to correct for over-sampling of larger firms

Table 1.2: Profile of Respondents (Location and Business Sector)

Location	%	Business sector	%
Main centres	58	Manufacturing	19
Provincial and rural	42	Construction	8
		Primary sector	2
		Wholesale/Retail	38
		Transport/Storage	9
		Business services	13
		Personal services	4
		ICT	6
		Other	1
Total	100		100

Table 1.3 shows the distribution of firms against location by size. There is a slightly larger proportion of smaller firms in provincial centres and rural areas than in the main centres.

Table 1.3: Profile of Respondents (Size against Location)

Size (FTES)	All	Main centres	Secondary and rural
	%	%	%
5 or fewer	86.2	84.0	89.3
6 to 19	8.7	10.5	6.3
20 and over	5.0	5.5	4.4
Total	100	100	100

Table 1.4 shows that nearly one in four (23%) of New Zealand firms included in the survey are engaged to some extent with the export of goods or services, with larger firms being more likely to be exporters than smaller ones. Over 50% of firms with 20 or more FTES are exporters. Those business sectors most likely to include exporting firms are "ICT" (45%), "manufacturing" (38%) and "business services" (27%). Main centre businesses are more than twice as likely to be exporters than provincial and rural firms (30% compared with 13%).

Table 1.4: Profile of Respondents (Involvement with Export of Goods and/or Services)

Size (FTES)	% Exporters	Location	% Exporters	Business sector	% Exporters
5 or fewer	20	Main centres	30	Manufacturing	38
6 to 19	37	Provincial and rural	13	Construction	15
20 and over	54			Primary sector	4
				Wholesale/Retail	16
				Transport/Storage	14
				Business services	27
				Personal services	12
Overall	23			ICT	45

¹New Zealand Business Demographic Statistics, Statistics New Zealand

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Printed: 06/09/2008