Canadian Business Increases E-Commerce, Tech

Online communications and spending is up in Canada, according to data from Statistics Canada.

In 2007 81 percent of private sector businesses used e-mail, up from 78 percent the previous year, and 74 percent in 2003 when the study began. Use of the Internet is slightly higher: 87 percent of businesses have access, and 41 percent maintain a Web site.

Private and public sector Internet sales tallied an estimated $62.7 billion in 2007, up 26 percent from the 2006 total in Canada, when e-commerce was $49.9 billion. E-commerce for the private sector equaled $58.2 billion, an increase of 25 percent over the year before.

Business-to-business transactions accounted for 62 percent of online sales in 2007, down from 68 percent in 2006. In the same time, online business-to-consumer sales rose from 32 percent to 38 percent of online sales.

The data are part of a 2007 survey of electronic commerce and technology of over 19,000 enterprises across the economy, except for local governments.