- UK internet businesses
UK Internet businesses are based in the UK and address the UK or world market for goods or services, using the Internet to deliver services or as their main marketing channel, or provide Internet technology from the UK.
Internet access and broadband
earch
Google has a localized UK service, www.google.co.uk, and is the major presence in the UK search market with a 79% market share - literally ten times the size of its nearest competitor. Google's UK service includes a UK dedicated version ofGoogle Product Search . [http://weblogs.hitwise.com/heather-hopkins/2007/04/search_engine_share_stats_from.html]Advertising
Expenditure on internet advertising reached £2bn in
2006 , equivalent to 44 per cent of TV advertising. [http://www.vnunet.com/computing/news/2197243/competition-fuels-broadband] [http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article2886408.ece]Retail
Total online retail spending online grew by 33.4% in 2007 to a record £10.9bn. UK online sales are predicted to reach £28.1bn by 2011 - 8.9% of all retail sales. [http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/business.cfm?id=1180812007] [http://www.pendle.net/Business/fulllist.htm]
Evidence exists that the UK's online retail market is especially weather dependent, with bad weather significantly increasing online sales. [ [http://www.ananova.com/business/story/sm_2471201.html?menu= Heavy rain causes 80% increase in online sales.] ]
The UK has a localized version of
eBay .Relatively high UK prices are often a special factor in UK online retail - see
Rip-Off Britain . Many businesses attempt to undercut what are seen as especially high UK prices inbricks and mortar stores; e.g.CD WOW! for CDs,TheHut.com andPlay.com for CDs, DVDs, videogames and books, andGlassesdirect in the prescriptionspectacles business.Businesses that are based on price under-cutting using
grey imports run a special risk of legal action by suppliers attempting to maintain higher UK prices [http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,1000000097,39118934,00.htm]British consumers often use online auction sites or foreign online retailers to order items like CDs, DVDs, and
videogame console software . DVD players and consoles that have been adapted to by-passregional lockout mechanisms are comparatively common in the UK. [http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageTravel_ShowContent&id=HMCE_CL_001454&propertyType=document] .Investment
€1.8bn (£1.2bn) was invested by
venture capitalists in software and IT companies across Europe in 2006, with the majority - 31% - €558m – going to the UK. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/jul/30/dotcoms]Dot-com bubble
The UK
Dot-com bubble lasted from 1995 until 2000. [http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/business.cfm?id=1180812007] Iconic flotations made during this time includedLastminute.com andAutonomy Corporation . The business networking groupFirst Tuesday had iconic status [http://networks.silicon.com/webwatch/0,39024667,39156223,00.htm] [http://news.zdnet.co.uk/itmanagement/0,1000000308,2101784,00.htm?r=1]References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.