”The Internet is the poor relation of the European economy,”...
"The Internet is the poor relation of the European economy,” said Belgian database management and interactive marketing company Email-Brokers Wednesday. At the “Old Continent” level, a “woefully small number of companies” has an online presence and is grabbing the business…
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and job-creation opportunities offered by e-commerce and social media, it said. Email-Brokers surveyed Internet development across all of Europe from 2010-2012. It found that Germany (64 percent), Belgium (61 percent) and the Netherlands (58 percent) are the countries with the highest percentage of online businesses. At the same time, the Czech Republic (rise of 11 percent of the number of websites in one year), France (a 10 percent rise in a year), Portugal and Hungary have the fastest growth, it said. The U.K. is the most developed in companies active in social networks, followed by Italy and Sweden, the survey found. The U.K. and Lichtenstein are the nations with the highest percentage of active e-commerce companies, it said. The lack of active Internet companies hurts Europe’s economy because it deprives the continent of growth and export opportunities which international competition is already busy seizing, said Email-Brokers founder William Vande Wiele. The study said out of 21 countries audited, only seven have at least 50 percent of their businesses online, he said. It’s almost too late to react, he said. While the financial crises continue to undermine European economies, it’s time for governments to launch an initiative to provide massive support for the development of the Internet at the Old Continent level, he said.