They indicate that in 85% of international blue-chip companies, online sales account for less than 10% of the total revenues across the US, UK, Japan and the rest of the European Union.
The communications company surveyed 100 senior management representatives from well-known companies in the retail, financial services and utility sectors. It also found that customer security fears are still the single biggest obstacle to e-commerce take-up, with 37% of managers citing it as a key concern.
Finally, some statistics that don’t leave the UK lagging behind in terms of Internet awareness, said Cynthia Gordon, marketing director at Thus. Every day we speak to blue-chip companies that have ambitious plans for their e-commerce strategies. Right now, there are still some basic barriers to widespread Internet adoption, but our research shows that in five years’ time, online sales are likely to account for between 30% and 50% of all sales revenues.
Delivery problems and slow connection speeds also prove frustrating, with 37% of company representatives citing these as obstacles. A quarter blame both internal management and customers for not wanting to ‘break the mould’.
Our findings also support the notion that companies will soon require ‘always-on’ access to the Internet at a fixed cost, Gordon added. Recent developments such as ADSL and GPRS mean technical issues will become a thing of the past.
