British online businesses are growing more than 50 times faster than the economy as a whole, a new study has found. The Barclays report came as separate spending data from Barclaycard showed online sales climbed by 10.1% in the first week of April, compared to a dip of 4.8% across overall retail spending.
Research by Barclays’ technology, media and telecoms industry team found the average online company saw 11.4% compound annual growth over the last three years, with half of those questioned enjoying double digit growth over that time. The UK economy grew at 0.2% in that time, making the online sector’s growth rate 57 times faster.
The Barclays Online Business Outlook 2013 report showed that 64% of online businesses said they were optimistic about their growth prospects for the year ahead, with only 4% pessimistic. Some 48% were optimistic about the UK economy (13% pessimistic), and 35% said competition in their sector was the biggest threat they face this year, and 25% said increasing costs across their business was the second biggest threat.
