One of the most developed nations in the world, the United Kingdom, now owes its majority of the economy to the Internet, as the web itself has been transformed as the backbone to Britain’s financial structure, far surpassing some of the most elemental economic factors including transport, construction or utilities industries. As per the report release by The Connected Kingdom, the Internet amounted to a total of $159 billion to the British economy for year 2009, that in more technical terms constituted nearly 7.2% of the total gross domestic product (GDP).
The continuous advancements in the field of technology and a growing reliance of U.K citizens on the web for their daily activities has led to U.K being the king of e-commerce. According to consultancy firm, Bain, the most noticeable fact is that, Britain is considered to be the highest online spending per capita in the world, and as per estimates, if the Internet is to be categorized as a economical vertical, then the web would prove to be fifth largest industry in U.K. Looking at the market trends and the spending habits of British citizens, it has to come to notice that, for the year 2010, nearly 62% of all adults amounting to a phenomenal 31 million U.K users have conducted financial transaction on the Internet. However, the report has left out one of the most crucial elements of e-commerce, the business-to-business e-commerce platform, that has been a source of $575 billion a year.
According to Paul Zwillenberg, (Partner, BCG),
“Everyone thinks the global Silicon-Valley-based companies are driving growth, but this report makes clear that in the UK it is coming from the ‘mom and pop’ businesses. They now have global footprints, they are selling to the ‘long tail’ and they are making their businesses more efficient. We are now a nation of digital shopkeepers.â€
Via Guardian
