Use of electronic commerce by the Portuguese business sector

More and more companies in Portugal are now relying on electronic commerce to buy and/or sell goods and services, as proven by the results of a study published by the UMIC - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (Agency for the Knowledge Society) and by the Information and Knowledge Society Observatory (OSIC), aiming to characterise the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) on the part of the Portuguese business sector.

According to the mentioned study, published at the end of 2004, around 21% of the companies that operate in Portugal^{1http://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=55129} relied, on 2004, on electronic commerce to buy and/or sell goods and services, which represents an increase of around 11% as regards 2003, and an average annual growth of around 14% between 2001 and 2004.The evolution in the number of companies that performed electronic purchases was an essential contribute for this increase, an average annual growth of 18% between 2001 and 2004 having occurred, reaching by the end of 2004, around 18% of companies.

Portuguese companies that use electronic commerce to buy/sell goods
and services (in % of the total amount)

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As far as the type of technology used is concerned, the Internet is the most used means by companies in Portugal to carry out electronic purchases and sales, followed by the EDI (Electronic Data Interchange). According to this study, whereas around 16% of companies resort to the Internet to purchase goods or services and 6% to make sales, in the case of EDI, such proportions do not exceed 3% and 2% of companies, respectively.

As regards the dimension of companies that use electronic commerce, the results obtained with the research show that large-size companies (with more that 250 workers) resort more to electronic commerce, adhering thereto around 47% of companies, followed by medium-size companies (between 50 to 249 workers), with 35% and lastly, small-size companies (between 10 to 49 workers), with 18% of companies.

At the level of sectors of activity, a large number of companies that buy and/or sell goods and services through electronic commerce may be found in the sector of commerce, hotels and restaurants, with around 34% of the companies of the sector, followed by the transports, communications and services sector (with 25%), the manufacturing sector (17%), and lastly, the electricity supply and construction sector (7%).

However, when data is analysed according to the type of use given to electronic commerce by companies, some differences emerge. Although it is likewise in the commerce, hotels and restaurants sector that a higher percentage of companies purchases goods and services by electronic means, with around 29% of companies, in the case of the use of this type of commerce to make sales, the emphasis is on the transports, communications and services sector, with a percentage of around 10% of companies.

Companies that use electronic commerce to buy/sell goods
and services, per sectors of activity (in %)

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Lastly, the study also presents some results on the barriers connected to the sale of goods and services through electronic commerce. Among barriers pointed out by inquired companies, the following may be highlighted: insecurity concerning the means of payment, referred by 53% of companies that use the Internet to sell goods and services; the lack of human resources to create, maintain and use this technology, referred by 46%; costs of development and maintenance of the electronic commerce system, by around 45%; and the fact that clients are not yet prepared to use electronic commerce, referred by 44% of questioned companies.

Barriers pointed out by companies as regards the sale of goods
and services through electronic commerce (% of companies)

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See:

 UMIC - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (Agency for the Knowledge Society)http://www.umic.pt

 Research on the use of ICT in Companies, UMIC/OSIC, December 2004

 Relevant studies and work ? Nationalhttp://www.anacom.pt/template15.jsp?categoryId=125940

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