Despite the rapid and continued growth in online and mobile commerce in Australia, only half of Australian businesses have a website, and only a quarter of those have a mobile site.

The statistics are courtesy of a study conducted by mobile and online payments platform Braintree, a division of PayPal Australia.

The results of the study highlights the number of businesses potentially missing out on online sales opportunities.

“It’s surprising to find so many Australian businesses don’t have a website, let alone a mobile site or native app, particularly given Australia’s reputation as a technology-forward country.  Given the strong smartphone adoption rates, it’s very likely your customers are on their mobile device much of the day, so your business needs to be mobile too,” said Aunkur Arya, Braintree’s general manager of mobile.

“We believe the future of commerce is online, and more specifically, on mobile. The growth of ecommerce, the advances in mobile and the impact that the smartphone has had on daily human behaviour and consumption of goods and services all support this.”

According to Braintree, almost one million (956,646) Australian businesses don’t currently have a website, and half of those have no plans to create one. The number one reason (80%) for not having a website was the business owner felt it wasn’t important to their business.

Do you have a website for your business?
Yes	54%
No, it’s currently in development	11.5%
No, but I am planning to create one	11.5%
No and I am not planning to create one	23%

 

Of those businesses that do have a website, two thirds (68%) don’t currently allow people to make a purchase on the site and three quarters (76%) don’t have a mobile optimised site or app.

Can people make a purchase direct from your website?
Yes, people can already make purchases from my website	32%
No, but I am planning to integrate this in the future	22%
No, and I have no plans to integrate this in the future	46%

 

Do you have a mobile site for your business?
Yes, I have a mobile optimised site	21%
Yes, I have a mobile app	3%
No, but I am currently developing a mobile optimised site	10%
No, but I am currently developing a mobile app	2%
No, but I am planning to create one	18%
No and I am not planning to create one	46%

Braintree’s research has identified a small but growing sector of the Australian business community that are tech progressive entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs are using – or are planning to use – technology to open their business up to sales; whether it be online, on mobile, in Australia or overseas.

While only a quarter of those businesses with an online site have a mobile optimised site or stand-alone app, another 30% are planning to create one. Furthermore, two thirds (64%) of these mobile entrepreneurs plan to integrate purchases into their mobile site, and 21% plan to support more than one currency for international sales.

Can people make a purchase direct from your mobile site / mobile app?
Yes, people can already make purchases from my mobile site / app	23.1%
No, but I am planning to integrate this in the future	40.7%
No, and I have no plans to integrate this in the future	36.3%

 

In the future, how many currencies do you plan to support on your website / mobile site / app?
	All respondents	Have/planning mobile site	Not planning mobile site
Just one currency	83%	79%	88%
Two or more currencies	17%	21%	12%

Mobile shopping continues to grow each year and experts expect new records to be set this Christmas period.

Those tech progressive entrepreneurs that don’t yet have a mobile site are rushing to meet this growing opportunity, with 14% aiming to have mobile site live before Christmas 2014, while another 31% are preparing to go live before Christmas 2015.

Tyson Hackwood, Braintree’s head of Asia, says mobile pioneers may reap the benefits.

“It’s great to see that there are entrepreneurs out there determined to harness the power of digital commerce. Technology has the power to open a business to numerous sales opportunities. Connected devices provide a window to new customers. It could be a customer who is around the corner, browsing on their mobile, or someone on the other side of the world that is looking for a very specific product. It’s important that all Australian business owners realise this potential and act quickly,” said Hackwood.

Braintree commissioned SurveyMonkey to conduct an online survey of 224 business owners across Australia between 29th and 31st October, 2014.