Online business in New Zealand

More now than ever, it is essential for any business to have a web presence. Recent studies and statistics by MYOB and the Sunday Star Times show that both e-commerce and small business can earn significantly more than their counterparts who are without a website.

MYOB surveyed 1000 businesses of all sizes across New Zealand and 50% of businesses believed they would generate more work and income by marketing effectively online, however only 30% of those surveyed had a website.

Out of those 30%, hospitality, retail and wholesale businesses lead the charge with their online presence with the rural sector lagging with just 11%.

Despite the lack of rural business websites, they are very proactive. The rural sector is taking advantage of the internet which breaks the barriers of distance, with 50% buying and selling goods online.

Another fact unravelled in the survey was the high amount of people who believed that the internet is a critical marketing channel, especially when it came to engaging with online users.

From an advertising point-of-view, one quarter of businesses advertise online, which was higher than any other form of medium, with search engine advertising coming in a close third on 19%.

Over one-third of business owners currently surf the internet for information on their industry as well as monitoring their competitors websites.

The statistics illustrate that New Zealand businesses believe the Internet will play a significant and integral part of business growth in the coming future. Despite these encouraging numbers, it is bizarre to see how few take advantage of the online world.

Our cousins across the ditch spend $13.6 billion online each year, and PricewaterhouseCoopers and Frost Sullivan expect this figure will grow by 12.6% each year until 2015.

And with online business sales expected to soar within the next four years, it would be a surprise more Kiwi businesses didn’t follow suit and jump aboard the online bandwagon.