Online sales in the UK increased by more than 42% in 2001, according to an ecommerce survey of businesses carried out by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The results show that, excluding the financial sector, £18.4 billion of sales were made over the internet last year. That is equivalent to 1% of total sales in the UK. B2B sales accounted for almost two-thirds of online spend, at £11.8 billion, while B2C sales generated £6.6 billion, a rise of 53% on 2000.
The study also found that the domestic market accounted for 81% of UK online sales, with 12% of orders coming from other EU countries and 7% received from outside the EU. Orders for physical products made up 62% of the value of online trading, with 35% applying to services. The remaining 3% derived from internet orders for digitised products.
