Irish companies boost turnover with most online sales

Irish companies recorded the highest share of turnover from online sales in the European Union last year, according to new figures published by the official statistics agency Eurostat.

Ireland’s share of turnover stood at 37 per cent, considerably higher than the EU average of 17 per cent and ahead of the Czech Republic on 30 per cent. Greece reported the lowest share of turnover from e-sales among Member States at just 1 per cent.

The country was also ranked first for share of enterprises selling online at 32 per cent, compared to an EU average of 19 per cent and ahead of Sweden, which came in second at 28 per cent.

While faring less well in terms of the share of companies purchasing online, Ireland still scored respectively at 47 per cent, versus an EU average of 40 per cent but somewhat below that of Austria at 68 per cent.

Overall, companies in the EU made 17 per cent of their total turnover from online sales last year, versus 12 per cent in 2008.

As in previous years, enterprises engaged more in buying than selling online with 40 per cent saying they had purchased good via the internet as against 19 per cent who made sales.

While 18 per cent of enterprises sold online in their home market, just 8 per cent sold to customers in other Member States and just 5 per cent to buyers outside of the European Union.

Ireland bucked the trend when it comes to cross-border ecommerce, with 17 per cent of Irish companies selling to customers in other Member States and 12 per cent outside of the EU. This compares with an EU average of 8 per cent and 5 per cent respectively.