The content on this page and other DCITA document archive pages is provided to assist research and may contain references to activities or policies that have no current application. See the full archive disclaimer.
% of persons 16 years and over purchasing online
While Australians have been relatively rapid adopters of most technologies, including cellular mobile phones and narrowband Internet access, the move to e-commerce activities has been comparatively slower. Internet shopping is still in its infancy in a number of countries in terms of the realisation of the full benefits of e-commerce to the final consumer (reduced costs, etc), although we are now at the stage where an increasingly significant proportion of the world's online population is using the Internet for online purchasing. In terms of take up of online shopping, Australia was ranked 8th and equal 5th (7th overall on the basis of the combined indices), with an estimated 50% of its Internet browsers 16 years and over and 14% of the total population 16 years and over with Internet access, purchasing over the Internet in the six months to September 2001. For countries ahead of Australia, the online purchasing penetration levels were:
- US (67% for those browsing online, 36% for those with Internet access);
- Germany (65% and 16%);
- UK (62% and 11%);
- Sweden (60% and 30%);
- Norway (58% and 16%); and
- South Korea (55% and 12%).
As with the previous indicator, aggregate points for each country were derived by adding the separate scores reported against each indicator.
|
Score (combined) | |
| Points | |
| US | 103 |
| Sweden | 90 |
| Germany | 81 |
| Norway | 74 |
| UK | 73 |
| South Korea | 67 |
| Australia | 64 |
| New Zealand | 62 |
| France | 61 |
| Ireland | 47 |
| Singapore | 47 |
| Taiwan | 42 |
| Italy | 36 |
| Hong Kong | 35 |
As the following chart shows, while Australians are yet to take up online shopping on mass, in the 12 months to December 2001 they used the Internet for a broad range of activities including:
- using email (48% of people aged 14 years and over, an increase of 30% since December 2000);
- general surfing (37%, an increase of 37%);
- searching for information on products or services (35%, an increase of 40%);
- down loading software or files (33%, an increase of 37%);
- searching information on companies (27%, an increase of 42%);
- accessing education services (23%, an increase 35%);
- accessing news and current affairs (21%, an increase 40%);
- Internet banking, (21%, an increase 75%);
- playing games (21%, an increase 50%) and
- participating in interactive discussions (19%, an increase 26%).