Scotland leads the world in e-commerce
The UK is storming ahead in the world of e-commerce according to government-funded economic development agency Scottish Enterprise.
A report, released Tuesday from the agency, reveals that 27 percent of British businesses are trading online making Britain a world leader. Interestingly, Scotland leads the UK pack with 29 percent of its businesses trading online.
Even those companies who don't actively trade online are Web aware -- 79 percent of UK companies have an online presence, compared with less than 60 pecent last year.
"A significant shift has occurred since last year accentuating the fact that we are in the middle of a revolution. We are now working to address the next stage. We intend to help accelerate the adoption of e-applications, giving businesses the competitive edge they require to ensure future profitability," says director of e-business at Scottish Enterprise Charlie Watt, in a press release
Scottish Enterprise's report contradicts a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers report that suggested Germany had the e-commerce upper hand. The Scottish Enterprise report may be open to criticism, in that businesses who merely send or receive email once in a while qualify as being "online".
Scottish Enterprise report was based on statistics from its own E-business Benchmarking Study 2000, and the DTI's Business in the Information Age 2000 study, and covered France, Germany, the US, Canada, Japan, Sweden, Italy, the UK and Scotland.
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