Less than half of Aussie businesses have a online presence: ABS

Less than half of Australian businesses have a web presence, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

According to the national statistics agency's Business Use of IT report, as of June 2012, nine out of 10 businesses had internet access, and a majority of them were on broadband. However, only 44.6 percent of businesses had a web presence, be it an online store or an official webpage. Smaller businesses are least likely to have a website, but even with larger companies of up to 199 employees, only 75.7 percent had a web presence.

Web presence does not include online listings.

Internet access varies between industries. Information, media, and communication businesses are most likely to have internet access. Accommodation and food services, on the other hand, registered the lowest rate of internet adoption, at just over 70 percent.

Similarly, the technology-inclined industries were most likely to have a web presence, whereas less than 20 percent of companies in the agriculture, forestry, and fishing business had one.

On a positive note, Australian businesses made AU$237 billion through online orders between 2011 and 2012.

Between 2010 and 2011, income made through receiving orders via the internet came in at AU$189 billion.

More than half of businesses in Australia are placing orders online, and 28 percent of companies are receiving orders online.

These figures vary depending on the size of the organisations, with larger businesses more welcoming of the use of new technologies.