Home > Internet Usage in Australia
Internet usage and the participation in eCommerce by Australians
is going from strength to strength.
Many businesses are not aware of the large amount of research
and information that is readily available on the subject.
We highly recommend that any business contemplating moving
on-line take the time to browse through the following information.
It will be of great use in formulating an effective approach
for your Internet marketing.
The extracts listed are from a number of highly-regarded
sources including:
Consumer Internet Usage
Extracts from the Save@Home study by the National
Office for the Information Economy, an in-depth study of home
internet use by Australian families.
The full report is available at http://www.noie.gov.au/projects/access/Access/Save@Home/index.htm
Australia goes
online
Australia has experienced an explosion
in home Internet access. Over one third (37 per cent) of
Australian households had Internet access at home by November
2000—a total of 2.7 million households—up from 1.7 million
households in November 1999. Home Internet access has grown
by over 50 per cent between 1999 and 2000. It is expected
that by the end of 2001, every second household will have
home Internet access (ABS 2000). (refer)
Australians are among
the world’s most intensive Internet users
The intensity of Internet use by
Australians is among the highest in the world. Australia
ranks sixth in the world in terms of the total number of
Internet users, despite its relatively small population
(CIA 2000).
The number of Australian homes connected
to the Internet is growing rapidly. At November 2000, 37
per cent of Australian households had Internet access at
home—a total of 2.7 million households—up from
1.7 million households a year ago. There are approximately
seven million Australian adult users of the Internet, or
50 per cent of all adults (ABS 2000). The share of Australia’s
online population is comparable to that in the United States
(US), where there are almost sixfold more Internet users
than in any other country. (refer)
Internet access becomes
a regular part of life for many Australians
Australians are using the Internet
with increasing regularity, and for a much greater variety
of purposes. Of those adults using the Internet at home,
29 per cent use it daily and a further 40 per cent use it
between two and six times per week (ABS 2000). It is expected
that the number of Australians accessing the Internet at
least once a week will exceed the Government forecast of
5.7 million by 2003 (DOCITA 2000). (refer)
E-commerce gathers momentum
In November 2000, there were more
than 1.3 million adult Internet shoppers, an increase of
532 000 since November 1999 (ABS 2000). But as the study
showed, Internet ‘window-shopping’ rather than buying is
much more prevalent. (refer)
'Window-shopping'
on the Internet rather than buying
The results also show that while
60 per cent of households are using the Internet to find
out about goods and services, there is, as yet, limited
take up of the opportunity to make final purchases online
(28 per cent). This is true for all household groups questioned.
Privacy and security concerns are the likely reason for
this. However, the discrepancy shows that, apart from transactions,
the Internet is an important source for price, quality and
other comparisons between products. (refer)
Nua.com provides recent figures of the number
of Australians on-line, as well as figures on a country-by-country
basis for the world.
Nielsen-netratings.com provides detailed and up-to-date internet
usage statistics for Australia and other countries - includes
average Internet user activity information, such as Number
of Sessions per Month, Number of Unique Sites Visited, Time
Spent per Month, and so on.
Business Internet Usage
AUSTRALIAN businesses almost doubled their online revenues
to $43 billion from December 2000 to mid-2002. Full
article
Extracts from Built for Business II: Beyond Basic Connectivity,
a report produced by The Allen Consulting Group for Cisco
Systems on the Internet Economy and Australian Business in
2002.
The report has very informative breakdowns of the use of the
Internet by industry and firm size - essential reading!
Online revenue growth now accounts
for some 6% of business revenue, equivalent to around $43
billion of GDP.
Online
income appears to be growing at an annualised rate of around
33 percent...
Moreover, businesses are suggesting
that the online economy is expected to continue its rapid
expansion. Businesses in the database indicate that online
income is forecast to rise to about 16 percent of the total
in three years time. This would be equivalent to $112 billion
over the economy as a whole at that time.
Some 95 percent of the businesses
included in the database report that they are connected
to the Internet. This is in line with the Yellow Pages’
survey findings that small and medium sized business connections
reached 95 percent in 2001.
51 percent of smaller businesses
(1 to 19 employees) have a website compared to 91 percent
of larger businesses (more than 100 employees).
Read the full
report
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