Making or receiving payments over the Internet is the fastest-growing online activity among small businesses, new Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show.
The
Characteristics of Small Business data released earlier this month covering the period June 2001 to June 2003 shows 53% of businesses employing between 5-19 staff and using the Internet made or received payments online - up from 37% in 2001.
Across all small business sectors (from non-employing to employing up to 19 staff), making or receiving payments rose by an annual average rate of 35% to almost 30%.
The statistics also show employing businesses made greater use of the Internet than those without employees, but the rate of growth in the two years to June 2003 was greatest among non-employers.
In terms of computer use, nearly 75% of all small businesses used computers in their operations, with more than half (52%) using the Internet for email (up by 9.5% from 2003) and 48% for research.
The survey also found strong average annual growth (6.5%) in the number of female small business operators in Victoria, with that state recording the highest average annual growth (3.1%).
Other findings include:
- an average annual increase of 2.4% in sole operator businesses
- an average annual decrease of 2.7% in the number of businesses with two operators and an average annual decrease of 2% in the number of businesses with three or more operators
- there were 1.59 million operators of an estimated 1.18 million small businesses, showing that while the annual average growth rate of the number of businesses was 0.7%, the number of business operators declined by 0.2%
- the number of business operators older than 50 years increased at an average annual rate of 3.7%
- most operators (58%) were between 30 and 50 years old
- 22% of operators worked between 51-75 hours a week, 41% worked between 35-50 hours a week
- 38% of female operators worked full-time and 25% of those worked between 35-50 hours a week
- the most significant positive growth in the number of businesses was in the older business category (5-10 years), with an average annual increase of 6.2%.