ICTs

E-commerce and internet profiles: Comparing the UK, France and Germany

E-commerce in Europe topped €76Bn last year, up 36% on 2005. While the UK continues to dominate e-commerce, with €38Bn spent on-line, Germany (€19Bn) and France (€13Bn) are growing fast. The three economies differ markedly however, in their internet profiles.

	UK	FRANCE	GERMANY
E-commerce as % of total turnover of enterprises / EU ranking	17.4 / 2	16.7 / 3	13.9 / 7
% enterprises receiving internet orders / EU ranking	18.8 / 8	16.2 / 10	18.9 / 7
% enterprises purshasing on the internet / EU ranking	62.4 / 3	26.0 / 14	54.0 / 8
E-business % of enterprises
---with integrated internal business processes / ranking	15.3 / 24	53.3 / 4	43.7 / 8
---with integrated external business processes / ranking	10.9 / 13	16.2 / 6	16.8 / 5
Mobile subscriber penetration	118.6%	83.1%	102.7%
Internet user penetration	55.7%	48.2%	49.3%
Broadband subscriber penetration	21.7%	21%	17.5%

Source: EIU CountryData 2006

United Kingdom

The UK boasts a high broadband-internet coverage (21.7%) and amongst the strongest ICT skills in the EU. This helps explain its dominance of e-commerce. But e-business, as measured by the percentage of companies with integrated or external business processes, is amongst the lowest in Europe.

At nearly 22%, broadband internet penetration in the UK is 5 points above the EU average. Even more impressive is the widespread use of ICT in education: there is 1 PC for every five children in British schools while 96% of British teachers use computers in class (EU average is 74%). Leading directly from this, the UK has the highest rate of employees with ICT user skills in the EU although it scores only 10^th place in ICT specialist skills.

With 80% of public services available online, e-government services for citizens have earned the UK second place. Figures from the EIU show that 2.1m people visited the websites DirectGov and BusinessLinkin every month in 2006. This makes the lag in e-business all the more surprising. Only 15% of British companies use integrated software applications, as seen in the comparative table above.

Germany

Germany took quickly to the internet and online shopping despite having a poor infrastructure: Broadband connections in Germany use DSL. Although fast internet connections are available via satellite, television cable or, in some regions, electrical wires, these account for only 3% of total broadband connections in Germany. Despite such limitations, media and content use are at the EU average and the online music industry is the second largest in Europe.

The number of persons using the internet to buy goods increased by 6% during 2006, to reach 28.6m at year-end, more than one-half of the German population aged 14–69, according to a study of online shopping by the consumer research group GfK.

Teaching with ICT is the norm in Germany but again limited by the poor internet infrastructure. German citizens use e-government services frequently although German companies do not. Given their global / export-outlook it is surprising that German companies rank only in the EU average for take-up of e-business practices.

France

The French internet and e-commerce profile appears a mirror-image of that of Germany. France ranks amongst the best-in-class for its internet infrastructure and its businesses have a relatively high take-up of e-business tools. Consumers, however, have been slow to adopt the internet and ICT skills are not especially well spread.

French companies claimed that nearly a third of their R&D investments last year were orientated towards ICT. Recent government initiatives to promote ICT should prolong this trend. Yet ICT is not especially well represented in French schools despite computer availability although employee ICT skills are above EU averages.

While France ranks third in terms of e-commerce, it had a hesitant start. Online media use, notably for music, is amongst the lowest in Europe. The lack of initial take-up has been explained by various factors, notably a strong retail culture, an existing on-line network (Minitel) and payment security worries. But today, with e-commerce enjoying double-digit growth, it appears that French consumers are at last taking advantage of their internet infrastructure.