Almost 1 in 5 Firms Provided a Click & Collect Service During the Covid-19 Pandemic

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (18 October 2021) published Information Society Statistics – Enterprises 2021, an analysis of E-commerce and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) activities by enterprises in Ireland.

Commenting on the publication, Statistician Colin Hanley said: ‘The COVID-19 pandemic has made enterprises across Ireland change how they do business. One in ten (10%) have set up a website to facilitate online sales while 18% provided a click & collect service. Almost one in five (19%) have indicated that they have seen an increase in sales through websites or apps. One in twelve (8%) have set up a new social media account while 31% have increased their use of social media during the pandemic.

In 2021, 82% of enterprises in Ireland have a website or a homepage. This compares to 79% of firms in 2020 and 2019. The most common facility provided by a business on their website or homepage were links to references to their social media profiles (43%) followed by a facility to access online ordering or reservations (27%).

Four in ten (40%) enterprises conducted sales electronically. Large enterprises (250+ persons engaged) had a higher proportion of firms selling electronically at 63% compared to 36% of small businesses (10-49 persons engaged). More than half (54%) of enterprises made purchases electronically. A third (33%) of enterprises received orders online from customers based in Ireland while 10% received orders from the EU.

Just over a third of firms (34%) made use of interconnected devices or systems that can be monitored or remotely controlled via the internet, more commonly known as the Internet of Things (IoT). The most common use of IoT devices in 2021 was for the security of the enterprise’s premises.

Almost six in ten (59%) firms purchased cloud computing services, an increase from 51% the previous year. The most common type of cloud computing service in 2021 was e-mail followed by office software with 47% and 43% of businesses availing of these services respectively.

One in twelve (8%) enterprises use Artificial Intelligence (AI) in their business with machine learning being the most common AI use. Marketing or sales (3%) and business administrative processes (3%) were the most common reason for using AI. Large firms are more likely to use AI in their business. Almost one in three (31%) large enterprises use AI compared to 13% of medium-sized firms (50-249 persons engaged) and 6% of small businesses.’

More information can be found here.