Thirty-six per cent of businesses operated a website last year, but sales through websites were less than 1 per cent of companies' income last year, a report by Statistics New Zealand has found.
Sales of goods and services over the internet made up just 0.3 per cent of total operating incomein the year to June 2001.
The report found the internet was mostly used to provide information to customers and suppliers, and only 11 per cent of business websites had the ability to accept online payments.
Nearly nine in 10 New Zealand businesses regularly used a computer, 49 per cent had computers connected to a local area network, and 19 per cent had computers connected to a wide area network.
Four out of five businesses used the internet and email.
Meanwhile, 21 per cent of firms were worried about the risk of viruses or hackers accessing confidential information and restricted their internet use as a result.
The growth in businesses' use of information technology was confirmed by employment market data from the 1996 and 2001 censuses, the statement said.
The total number of people involved in IT-related occupations increased by 76 per cent, while the number of people with tertiary qualifications in IT almost doubled in the five years to 2001.
In 2001, 47 per cent of New Zealand households had a home computer, and 37 per cent of households had access to the internet.
Information Technology Use in New Zealand is the first in a series of three analytical reports to be produced from the Business Practices Survey conducted in June 2001.
The next two reports will focus on innovation and management practices.
