Fewer than 7% of Cypriots shop online according to the annual survey by the Statistical Service covering households and enterprises.
The household survey covered 1,599 households and 3754 individuals 16 – 74 years old. It covered all the government controlled areas of the Republic of Cyprus, urban and rural. The data were collected with personal interviews.
The main results of the survey are the following.
The percentage of households with access to a computer keeps increasing, reaching 56.3% in 2008, compared to 53.1% in 2007.
A computer is found in 81.1% of households with dependent children, while in households where there are no dependent children the percentage is only 42.7%.
Internet access in households continues to increase. In the first quarter of 2008, the Internet was accessed at least once in 42.9% of the households, compared to 38.9% in 2007.
Over the last few years there has been a steady increase in broadband connections and a simultaneous decrease in narrowband connections (Modem, ISDN). The survey showed that 76.8% of the households with Internet access have a broadband connection.
There are two main reasons given for households not having an Internet connection. First, individuals in those households believe that they do not need the Internet and second, individuals say they lack the skills (52.3% and 41.2% of the households without access to the Internet respectively).
An increase was observed in the number of individuals who used the Internet during the first quarter of the year, from 38.1% in 2007 to 38.8% in 2008.
Individuals aged between 16 and 24 years old (64.6%) and students (78.1%) are the most frequent users of the Internet.
Men use the Internet more frequently than women. Frequent users among men and women are 38.9% and 31.9% respectively.
The most popular Internet activities among Cypriots are finding information about goods or services and sending or receiving e-mails.
Among individuals using the Internet, 37.7% use instant messaging for communication with others and 19.6% make telephone calls over the Internet.
Some 38.1% of Internet users download or listen to music from the Internet.
The percentage of individuals making online orders remained low during 2008. Only 6.8% of Cypriots made orders of goods or services for private use over the Internet during the first quarter of 2008.
Tickets for travel and holiday accommodation was the most popular purchase: 34.3% of Cypriots who ordered goods or services over the Internet in the last 12 months ordered tickets for travel and holiday accommodation.
In 2008 90.6% of Cypriots aged between 16 and 74 years old used a mobile phone.
89% of enterprises have access to the Internet
According to the annual commercial enterprises ICT survey 89% of enterprises have access to the internet.
The survey was carried out for the fifth consecutive year in all the member states of the European Union.
The survey covered 1,437 enterprises with 10 or more employees in specific categories of economic activity. It covered all the government controlled areas of the Republic of Cyprus. The data were collected with personal interviews.
The main results of the survey are the following.
The percentage of enterprises using a computer in 2008 is 94.4%, almost the same as 2007. All large (250 employees or more) and medium sized enterprises (50-249 employees) are using computers.
The Internet is used by 89% of enterprises while 20% of enterprises have an intranet.
The Internet is used in all large and almost all medium sized enterprises. In small enterprises (10-49 employees) there is a continuous increase in Internet usage (from 82.3% in 2004 to 87.0% in 2008).
In the recent years there has been a steady increase in broadband connections to the Internet. In 2008, 88.6% of the enterprises with access to the Internet had a broadband connection; 47.9% of enterprises have a website; 11.1% of enterprises use Automated Data Exchange, mainly for exchanging information on products.
Only 7.6% of enterprises regularly share information electronically on supply chain management with either their suppliers or their customers.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software is used by 18.8% of enterprises, while 19.4% of enterprises have a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software application for managing information about clients.
With regard to e-Commerce, there was an increase in the percentage of enterprises that accepted orders via computer networks, from 6.4% in 2007 to 7.1% in 2008.
In 9.4% of the enterprises that received electronic orders during 2007, the value of the turnover from those orders represented more than 50% of their total turnover.
The results for all member states will be published on the website of Eurostat (http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat). on 2nd December 2008.
