The number of Basque firms engaged in e-commerce now amounts to 12.8% of the total, a 22% rise in the last year.

E-commerce in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country continues to grow in terms of turnover and the number of companies involved, according to data from Eustat. The volume of business generated in 2006 online or through other electronic systems such as e-mail, electronic data interchange (EDI), etc., totalled 5,645,300,000 euros in terms of electronic sales and 2,647,800,00 in terms of purchases.

These figures represent increases of 12.7% in sales through e-commerce and 11.6% in purchases compared to 2005.

Table 1: Ourchases and sales through e-commerce broken down by territories, areas of activity and nº of employees.

Source: Eustat

As in previous years, in the breakdown by territories Bizkaia stands out in purchases and Alava in sales, and in the breakdown by areas of activity industry stands out pver all other sectors in both purchases and sales. In terms of the size of the establishments involved, those with 10 or more employees account for most e-commerce.

The percentage of firms involved in e-commerce increased by 22% in 2006 to 12.8% of the total. Most of the increase is accounted for by firms making purchases (11.4%), and to a lesser extent by firms making sales (2.9%). However, this increased participation of Basque firms in e- purchasing contrasts with the figures for the financial amounts moved through e-commerce, which are far higher in the case of electronic sales.

Table 2: Trend in establishments engaged in e-commerce. %

Source: Eustat

It is calculated that around 23,300 establishments in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country engage in e-commerce. It is also estimated that purchases made via e-commerce account for 18.2% of their total purchases and sales via e-commerce account for 24.4% of their total sales.

These figures vary according to the size of the firms involved. 20.4% of firms with 10 or more employees use e-commerce. Firms in the same size range also account for a high proportion of e- purchases (17.7%), but for a lower proportion of electronic sales (6.4%).

A breakdown of the methods used to make electronic purchases shows that 43.2% are made via websites, with 35.1% by e-mail and the remaining 21.7% by EDI and other networks. 56.3% of electronic sales are made via EDI and other networks, 27.3% via websites and 16.4% via e-mail.

Graph 1: Breakdown of methods used for e-commerce in 2006 (%)

Source: Eustat

A breakdown by types of customer of total electronic sales made in 2006 shows that 86.2% of such sales went to other firms (B2B), 12.8% to private consumers (B2C) and the remaining 1% to other customers such as public authorities (B2G).

Graph 2: Breakdown of sales by type of customer in 2006 (%)

Source: Eustat

Finally, a breakdown of customers by geographical locations shows that 43.8% of total sales made online went to the European Union, 33.6% to the rest of Spain, 20.5% to destinations within the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country and the remaining 2.1% to the rest of the world.

A similar breakdown purchases reveals that firms declare the point of origin of their purchases to be the rest of Spain in 52.5% of cases, the Basque Community in 27.3%, other EU countries in 15.5% and the rest of the world in 4.7% of cases.

Graph 3: Electronic sales and purchases broken down by destination and point of origin in 2006 (%)

Source: Eustat