The UK’s online businesses are thriving, defying the impact of the economic downturn, according to the latest research.
Figures released by Sage Pay indicated that, over the last year, an average of 49% growth in online sales had been reported in the survey of over 1,000 internet businesses.
More than half of e-businesses were also expanding abroad, taking advantage of the weak pound and the maturity of the UK’s e-commerce market.
While Western Europe, including countries such as France, Germany and Spain, are commonly reported as destinations for UK SMEs to do business in, there was a surprise country that almost 20% of respondents said they had a presence in.
China, a country still seeing massive growth (9.5% growth in GDP for the last quarter), is emerging as a popular choice for companies looking to take calculated risks to potentially see huge increases in turnover.
Also noted was the impact of business' online 'sociability'. Social media is proving especially popular for e-businesses, with sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, being used as standard by over three-quarters of the e-businesses surveyed.