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For more information on this release:
E-mail: barry.kelleher@cso.ie Barry Kelleher (+353) 21 453 5208
For general information on CSO statistics:
information@cso.ie (+353) 21 453 5000 On-line ISSN 2009-5791
CSO statistical release, , 11am

Information Society Statistics - Enterprises

2017

Enterprise use of social media, 2015 - 2017
   %
 Ireland 2015Ireland 2016Ireland 2017EU-28 2015EU-28 2016EU-28 2017
Use of any social media646769394547
Use of social networks626567364245
Use of enterprise's blogs or microblogs303333131414
Use of multimedia content sharing websites212323131516
Use of wiki based knowledge sharing tools887555
Source: CSO and Eurostat

Use of social media by Irish enterprises is second highest in the EU in 2017

Figure 1: Enterprise use of social media, 2016 - 2017
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In 2017, 69% of Irish enterprises employing 10 or more people used some type of social media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube compared with an EU-28 average of 47%. The use of social media by enterprises nationally has risen steadily from 64% of enterprises in 2015 and 67% in 2016. See Headline Table.

In terms of enterprises using social media, Ireland ranked joint-second in the EU-28. Malta had the largest percentage of enterprises in the EU-28 using social media at 74%, while Poland had the lowest usage at 27%.

The primary method of using social media as a way of connecting with customers is the use of social networks, with 67% of Irish enterprises stating they used social networks such as Facebook. This compares with 65% and 62% of Irish enterprises using social networks in 2016 and 2015 respectively. Comparable data from Eurostat shows that the use of social networks by EU-28 enterprises increased from 36% in 2015 to 42% in 2016 and 45% in 2017. Irish enterprises maintained a relatively stable use of blogs or microblogs such as Twitter with 32% of enterprises using this method in 2017 compared with 33% in 2016 and 30% in 2015. The use of multimedia content sharing websites such as YouTube increased from 21% of enterprises in 2015 to 23% of enterprises in 2017. See Figure 1 and Table 1.

2017
Any use of CRM software34
0
To capture, store and make available
to other business functions
information about its clients		32
To analyse information about clients
for marketing purposes		27

34% of enterprises use Customer Relationship Management software

In 2017, 34% of Irish enterprises employing 10 or more persons used Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software to capture, store and make available to other business functions information about its clients for marketing purposes.

The EU-28 average was 33%. Germany and the Netherlands had the largest percentage of enterprises using CRM at 47% while Hungary and Romania had the lowest take up rate at 14%.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) was used by 29% of businesses in 2017. See Figure 2 and Table 2.

2017
Any use of Supply Chain Management12
0
For websites or web portals9
For electronic transmission
suitable for automated processing		8
For websites/portals and
electronic transmissions		5

12% of enterprises shared information electronically using Supply Chain Management in 2017

Over 12% of Irish enterprises reported that they shared information electronically using Supply Chain Management (SCM) in 2017. The most popular SCM method was via websites or web portals, with 9% using this method, while 8% opted for electronic transmission suitable for automated processing. Just under 5% used both of these methods in 2017. See Figure 3 and Table 3.

Other salese-Commerce sales
Small (10 to 49)7822
Medium (50 to 249)7624
Large (250+)5743

Over half of large enterprises conduct their sales electronically

In 2017, 58% of large enterprises had e-Commerce sales which accounted for 43% of total sales of such enterprises. Just under 29% of small enterprises had e-Commerce sales which accounted for 22% of all sales in this size class. Over 51% of medium sized enterprises had e-Commerce sales which accounted for 24% of their total sales. See Figure 4 and Table 4.

Other purchasese-Commerce purchases
Small (10 to 49)7426
Medium (50 to 249)7525
Large (250+)5842

76% of large enterprises made e-Commerce purchases in 2017

In 2017, 76% of large enterprises made e-Commerce purchases which accounted for 42% of all purchases made by enterprises that employed 250 or more persons, while 62% of medium sized enterprises made e-Commerce purchases which accounted for 25% of total purchases for this size class. 44% of small enterprises made e-Commerce purchases which amounted to 26% of their total purchases. See Figure 5 and Table 4.

% of enterprises with e-Commerce purchases% of enterprises with e-Commerce sales
Small (10 to 49)4429
Medium (50 to 249)6251
Large (250+)7658

More enterprises engaged in e-Commerce purchases than sales

Across all employment size classes, the proportion of enterprises that have made e-Commerce purchases is higher than those enterprises who have made e-Commerce sales. Large enterprises had the greatest difference between e-Commerce purchases and sales. See Figure 6 and Table 4.

e-Commerce purchases as a percentage of total enterprisese-Commerce purchases as a percentage of total purchases
Manufacturing 4836
Construction 374
Selected services 4834

Manufacturing and Services sector enterprises had joint-largest share of e-Commerce purchases

In 2017, Manufacturing sector enterprises reported that 48% of enterprises had made e-Commerce purchases which accounted for 36% of total purchases in that sector. Comparable figures for Services enterprises indicated that 48% of enterprises also made e-Commerce purchases which accounted for 34% of total purchases. When looking at the construction sector 37% reported making e-Commerce purchases which accounted for just 4% of all purchases made by this category. See Figure 7 and Table 5.

e-Commerce sales as a percentage of total enterprisese-Commerce sales as a percentage of total turnover
Manufacturing 4235
Construction 182
Selected services 3233

Manufacturing sector had the largest share of e-Commerce sales by turnover

Looking at the detailed sectors shows that 42% of Manufacturing enterprises reported e-Commerce sales which accounted for 35% of total turnover for that sector. The Services sector reported that 32% of enterprises had e-Commerce sales which accounted for 33% of all turnover generated in that sector. Just 18% of Construction enterprises made e-Commerce sales which accounted for 2% of total Construction turnover. See Figure 8 and Table 5.

2017
Any use of RFID technologies11
0
For person identification or
access control		8
As part of the production and
service delivery process		4
For product identification after
the production process		3

11% of enterprises used Radio Frequency Identification technologies

In 2017, 11% of enterprises used Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technologies. The most common reason, at 8%, for using RFID was for person identification or access control, while 4% used it as part of the production and service delivery process and 3% for product identification after the production process. See Figure 9 and Table 13.

Table 1 EU enterprises use of any social media , 2015 - 2017
 %
 201520162017
EU-28394547
Belgium455358
Bulgaria303234
Czech Republic253436
Denmark566468
Germany384745
Estonia333940
Ireland646668
Greece374450
Spain404451
France303641
Croatia384245
Italy373944
Cyprus576467
Latvia282630
Lithuania424550
Luxembourg394954
Hungary293438
Malta727174
Netherlands636568
Austria425053
Poland222527
Portugal384446
Romania253035
Slovenia424647
Slovakia343439
Finland506063
Sweden535865
United Kingdom545963
Source: Eurostat
Open in Excel: Information Society Statistics 2017 Table 1 (XLS 13KB)
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Table 2 Sharing information electronically within the enterprise, 2017
 %
Any use of ERP1 software 29
Any use of CRM2 software 34
     Use CRM software to capture, store and make available to other business functions information about its clients32
     Use CRM software to analyse information about clients for marketing purposes27
1Enterprise Resource Planning 2Customer Relationship Management
Enterprises can use more than one type of software, hence the sum of the different types does not equal the total figure
Open in Excel: Information Society Statistics 2017 Table 2 (XLS 11KB)
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Table 3 Sharing information electronically using Supply Chain Management, 2017
 %
Any use of Supply Chain Management to share information electronically with other enterprises12
     Using Supply Chain Management via websites or web portals9
     Using Supply Chain Management via electronic transmission suitable for automated processing8
     Using Supply Chain Management via websites or web portals and via electronic transmission suitable for automated processing5
Enterprises can use more than one type of software, hence the sum of the different types does not equal the total figure
Open in Excel: Information Society Statistics 2017 Table 3 (XLS 11KB)
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Table 4 ICT usage by size of enterprise, 2017
     %
 Small (10 to 49) Medium (50 to 249) Large (250+)
Enterprises with e-Commerce sales 29 51 58
e-Commerce sales as a % of total sales22 24 43
      
Enterprises with e-Commerce purchases44 62 76
e-Commerce purchases as a % of total purchases 26 25 42
      
Enterprises using broadband 95 99 99
Enterprises using mobile broadband connection 65 79 95
Open in Excel: Information Society Statistics 2017 Table 4 (XLS 13KB)
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Table 5 Purchases and sales via e-Commerce, 2015 - 2017
            %
    Manufacturing sectors Construction sector Selected services sectors Total
    201520162017 201520162017 201520162017 201520162017
Use of e-Commerce for purchases (as % of total enterprises)      
 by internet or EDI 404248 323237 494748 474648
Use of e-Commerce for sales (as % of total enterprises)               
by internet or EDI  323642 91118 343132 323033
by internet 162120 7711 282727 252526
by EDI 242732 258 131415 141516
Percentage of purchases by e-Commerce (as % of total purchases)               
by internet or EDI 333636 324 302934 313034
Percentage of sales by e-Commerce (as % of total turnover)               
by internet or EDI 363135 012 403833 383634
by internet 757 000 202120 151516
 by EDI 302728 002 191814 232018
Open in Excel: Information Society Statistics 2017 Table 5 (XLS 13KB)
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Table 6 Purchases and sales via e-Commerce by sector, 2017
                    %
  Manufacturing sectors Construction sector Selected services sectors  
NACE Division110-1819-2223-2526-33Total 41-43 45-4749-5355-5658-636869-7477-82Total Total
Use of e-Commerce for purchases (as % of total enterprises)                   
by internet or EDI 4549455348 37 4937396250595148 48
Use of e-Commerce for sales (as % of total enterprises)                   
by internet or EDI  4942353742 18 3331384011202632 33
by internet 2318171920 11 272736306142127 26
by EDI  3837222832 8 161812249121015 16
Percentage of purchases by e-Commerce (as % of total purchases)                   
by internet or EDI  54745336 4 381519346183134 34
Percentage of sales by e-Commerce (as % of total turnover)                   
by internet or EDI  263754335 2 365220322172333 34
by internet 411037 0 204615171131420 16
 by EDI  222644128 2 16651504914 18
1 See Background notes for NACE Rev.2 classification.
Open in Excel: Information Society Statistics 2017 Table 6 (XLS 40KB)
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Table 7 Purchases via e-Commerce by enterprises, EU-28, 2015 - 2017
   %
 201520162017
EU-28404245
Belgium434044
Bulgaria131113
Czech Republic566257
Denmark:::
Germany54:56
Estonia232525
Ireland474648
Greece111511
Spain263232
France435551
Croatia222326
Italy384143
Cyprus224341
Latvia354131
Lithuania272628
Luxembourg324238
Hungary313738
Malta26::
Netherlands475257
Austria686663
Poland213533
Portugal232725
Romania141412
Slovenia2829:
Slovakia222522
Finland51::
Sweden443756
United Kingdom515451
Source: Eurostat
: indicates no figure available
Open in Excel: Information Society Statistics 2017 Table 7 (XLS 78KB)
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Table 8 Sales via e-Commerce by enterprises, EU-28, 2015 - 2017
   %
 201520162017
EU-28192020
Belgium262626
Bulgaria9910
Czech Republic252724
Denmark272930
Germany272826
Estonia151819
Ireland323033
Greece71212
Spain182121
France212121
Croatia201918
Italy101113
Cyprus111313
Latvia101012
Lithuania192023
Luxembourg101513
Hungary141516
Malta192019
Netherlands252526
Austria181921
Poland121212
Portugal201918
Romania878
Slovenia222025
Slovakia151518
Finland192224
Sweden282831
United Kingdom232223
Source: Eurostat
Open in Excel: Information Society Statistics 2017 Table 8 (XLS 77KB)
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Table 9 General findings of enterprise ICT survey, as a percentage of all enterprises, 2016 - 2017
            %
 Manufacturing sectors Construction sector Selected services sectors Total
20162017 20162017 20162017 20162017
General information about ICT systems  
 Using a computer100100 9999 9999 9999
Use of the internet           
 Using the internet100100 10099 9996 9996
 Have a website or homepage9191 8275 7473 7674
Purposes of using the internet (as provider)           
 Facilitating access to catalogues or price lists4249 1929 3841 3742
 Facilitating access to online ordering or reservations1616 59 2827 2625
Open in Excel: Information Society Statistics 2017 Table 9 (XLS 39KB)
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Table 10 General findings of enterprise ICT survey, as a percentage of all enterprises, by sector, 2017
                    %
  Manufacturing sectors Construction sector Selected services sectors  
 NACE Division110-1819-2223-2526-33Total 41-43 45-4749-5355-5658-636869-7477-82Total Total
General information about ICT systems                   
Using a computer 100100100100100 99 999710010095999899 99
Use of the internet                   
Using the internet 100100100100100 99 98978910091999896 96
Have a website or homepage 8992929291 75 6670709472848173 74
Purposes of using the internet (as provider)                   
Facilitating access to catalogues or price lists 4454575049 29 4533464236313441 42
Facilitating access to online ordering or reservations 2310141116 9 282138255121927 25
1 See Background notes for NACE Rev.2 classification
Open in Excel: Information Society Statistics 2017 Table 10 (XLS 40KB)
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Table 11 External connection to the internet, as a percentage of all enterprises, by sector, 2016 - 2017
            %
    Manufacturing sectors Construction sector Selected services sectors Total
    20162017 20162017 20162017 20162017
Type of external connection to the internet           
 Broadband 97100 9999 9896 9896
 Mobile broadband connection7377 7577 6766 6868
Enterprises with broadband           
 Purchases by internet or EDI4248 3237 4850 4750
 Sales by internet or EDI3642 1118 3134 3134
Open in Excel: Information Society Statistics 2017 Table 11 (XLS 12KB)
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Table 12 External connection to the internet, as a percentage of all enterprises, by sector, 2017
                    %
   Manufacturing sectors Construction sector Selected services sectors   
 NACE Division 110-1819-2223-2526-33Total 41-43 45-4749-5355-5658-636869-7477-82Total Total
Type of external connection to the internet                   
      Broadband 100100100100100 99 98978810086989896 96
      Mobile broadband connection 7677768077 77 6271617876797266 68
Enterprises with broadband                   
      Purchases by internet or EDI 4549455348 37 5038456258605250 50
      Sales by internet or EDI 4942353742 18 3432434012212734 34
1See Background notes for NACE Rev.2 classification.
Open in Excel: Information Society Statistics 2017 Table 12 (XLS 40KB)
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Table 13 Use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technologies, 2017
 %
Any use of Radio Frequency Identification instruments11
     Use RFID technology for person identification or access control8
     Use RFID technology as part of the production and service delivery process4
     Use RFID technology for product identification after the production process3
Enterprises can use more than one type of technology, hence the sum of the different types does not equal the total figure 
Open in Excel: Information Society Statistics 2017 Table 13 (XLS 11KB)
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Background Notes

Background Notes 2017

Introduction

The Survey on e-Commerce and ICT is conducted to provide harmonised enterprise statistics at EU level. The survey is carried out annually under EU Regulation (EC) No. 808/2004.

Summary of survey methodology

The Survey on e-Commerce and ICT was conducted as a wholly electronic survey for the first time in 2013 via the CSO’s e-form system, allowing sampled enterprises to complete and return the survey form electronically. Reminders are periodically sent to non-respondents throughout the year and a telephone campaign is also conducted to ensure that the response rate is sufficient for the survey. The 2017 response rate was 43%. Returned survey forms are verified and edited before the data is grossed up to the sample frame population.

A pilot survey was conducted in 2002 and a full annual survey began in 2003. Approximately 6,000 enterprises are surveyed in the first quarter of each year. The sample of enterprises is chosen from the CSO’s Business Register. The overall results are released by Eurostat on an EU-28-wide basis in December each year. The results presented in this release are from the 2017 survey. The results cover enterprises with ten or more persons engaged in the manufacturing, construction and selected services sectors. Enterprises operating in the following NACE Rev.2 classifications were included in the coverage of this survey. NACE coding is a classification system which groups enterprises according to their business activities. Each business activity category is assigned a unique NACE code.

NACE Rev.2 categories used in the ICT survey

Section C (10-33) Manufacturing:
Food, beverages, tobacco, textiles, wearing apparel, leather, wood, printing and paper products (10 to 18);
Petroleum, chemical, pharmaceutical, rubber and plastic products (19 to 22);
Other non-metallic mineral products, basic metals and fabricated metal products (23 to 25);
Computer, electronic and other equipment, repairs and installation, other manufacturing (26 to 33).
Section D, E (35-39) Electricity, gas and steam, water supply, sewerage and waste management
Section F (41-43) Construction
Section G (45-47) Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles
Section H (49-53) Transportation and storage
Section I (55-56) Accommodation and food service activities
Section J (58-63) Information and communication
Section L (68) Real estate activities
Division M (69-74) Professional, scientific and technical activities (selected sectors)
Section N (77-82) Administrative and Support Service activities
Group (95.1) Repair of computers m, water supply, sewerage and waste management)

Results

Results are based on the survey of Survey on e-Commerce and ICT by an enterprise, which was conducted in the first half of 2017. This survey covers enterprises with 10 or more persons engaged in the manufacturing, construction and selected services sectors.

Eurostat tables

The Survey on e-Commerce and ICT usage is carried out across all member countries of the EU-28. Each national country designs its own enterprise survey, using a template questionnaire issued by Eurostat, and incorporating some optional modules.

National results are transmitted to Eurostat annually and subsequently published by Eurostat in December of each year. Published results for Ireland may differ slightly from those in the Eurostat tables due to rounding. Further information on Eurostat tables and comparable results across member countries of the EU-28 are available online at

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Science,_technology_and_digital_society_statistics_introduced 

Glossary of Terms

Broadband: High-speed, always-on internet access running with a speed of greater than 128Kb/sec (Kilobytes per second).

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL): Digital Subscriber Line technologies are designed to increase bandwidth available over standard copper telephone wires. Includes IDSL, HDSL, SDSL, ADSL, RADSL, VDSL, DSL-Lite and xDSL.

Electronic Commerce (e-Commerce): Transactions conducted over IP (Internet Protocol) based networks and over other computer mediated networks. The goods and services are ordered over those networks, but the payment and ultimate delivery of the goods or service may be conducted on or offline. Orders received via telephone, facsimile and non-interactive e-mails are not counted as electronic commerce.

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI): Electronic exchange of forms, such as for orders, between geographically dispersed locations.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP): Enterprise Resource Planning consists of one or a set of software applications that integrate information and processes across the several business functions of the enterprise.

Extranet: A secure extension of an intranet that allows external users to access some parts of an organisation’s intranet.

Intranet: An internal company communications network using IP-based communications within an organisation.

Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN): Integrated Services Digital Network is the digital version of the old telephone system. ISDN offers many services such as private virtual networks, high-speed facsimile (fax), video-conferencing and most importantly, high speed communications.

LAN: Local Area Network. This relates to your company’s computer network, usually within an office, building or closed geographical area.

Modem: Device that converts outgoing digital signals from a computer to analogue signals which can be transmitted via a conventional copper telephone line and which converts incoming analogue signals to digital.

Social Media: Use of social media refers to the enterprise’s use of applications based on internet technology or communication platforms for connecting, creating and exchanging content online with customers, suppliers, partners or within the enterprise. Enterprises using social media are considered to be those that have a user profile, an account or a user licence depending on the requirements of the social media type.

Social networks e.g. Facebook, Linkedln, Xing, Viadeo, Yammer, etc

Blogs or microblogs e.g. Twitter

Multimedia content shared websites e.g. YouTube, Flickr, Picassa, SlideShare

Wiki based knowledge sharing sites e.g. Wikipedia

 Member states of the EU-28 
 Austria
 Belgium
 Bulgaria
 Croatia
 Cyprus
 Czech Republic
 Denmark
 Estonia
 Finland
 France
 Germany
 Greece
 Hungary
 Ireland
 Italy
 Latvia
 Lithuania
 Luxembourg
 Malta
 Netherlands
 Poland
 Portugal
 Romania
 Slovakia
 Slovenia
 Spain
 Sweden
 United Kingdom
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Contact:

Central Statistics Office
Skehard Road, Cork T12 X00E, Ireland

Tel:
(+353) 21 453 5000
E-Mail:
information@cso.ie

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