20 February 2014
The Old Continent is not investing enough in the Web and is consequently leaving behind an unprecedented unexploited potential in terms of business opportunities and economic growth. Out of the 35 audited countries, only 9 have at least 50% of their companies on the Internet.

In terms of e-commerce, the statistics are also extremely eloquent: the best pupils are the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic with only 11% of their businesses present on the Web having opted for the Net as (extra) sales channel.

According to a new pan-European study by Email-Brokers, the West-European company leader of database management and interactive marketing, the Internet is far from generating the revolution we were expecting for Europe. The great majority of companies across the continent shows a flagrant lack of interest when it comes to investing in an online presence, and consequently benefiting from an increased visibility. As a matter of fact, the survey demonstrates that out of the 35 audited countries, only 9 have at least 50% of their companies on the Web. Moreover, they also seem to be reluctant when facing the possibility of grasping the business and job-creation opportunities offered by the e-commerce and the social media.

"The Old Continent is not investing enough in the Web"

Much more than a simple neglect of the Web, Europe is experiencing a real decadence that is clearly mirrored in the abnormally high number of illegal websites, of which United Kingdom is the champion with 85% of its websites failing to comply with the legislation in force. It is closely followed by Malta (84%), Portugal (83%), Albania (81%) as well as Belgium and Greece (both 79%). On the other hand, nations such as Hungary (18%), Luxemburg (19%) or the Scandinavian countries (9% for Denmark, 11% for Norway and 19% for Sweden) are displaying a contrasting higher percentage of legitimate commercial websites.

Last but not least, Email-Brokers deplores a huge amount of sites that have not been updated since more than a year. These striking figures also amount of sites that have not been updated since more than a year. These striking figures also illustrate in a very obvious manner the major catastrophe which is taking place at the scale of our continent, with 83% of obsolete websites for Malta, 82% for the United Kingdom and 81% for Germany.

“While the Old Continent is facing continuing economic challenges, Internet can prove to be the key that allows European companies to proudly keep their head above water and create golden opportunities that will enable them to blossom”, underlines William VandeWiele.

“The best pieces of evidence that the Internet constitutes a determining factor in the dynamisation and longevity of a business are the following statistics: 87% of German companies that have gone bankrupt in 2013 were not present on the Net and the same tendency is to be observed in the Netherlands (86%), Spain (84%), Italy (83%), Belgium (82%), France (81%) and many other countries.”

To obtain the maps in PDF format along with the full report, click on http://www.email-brokers.com/_brochures/2014_02_press/eu_low_res.pdf

The company Email-Brokers is a major database management and interactive marketing player in Western Europe where it offers the continent’s most exhaustive business-to-business or business-to-customer databases.

The company was created in 2001 in the vicinity of Belgium’s first university. It has since then enjoyed permanent double-digit growth, thanks to its partnerships with other companies in the direct marketing field on the one hand, and on the other, with information and financial analysis companies.

Email-Brokers has organised its activities around two central departments:
E-database management: focusing on the enrichment and qualification of client databases
E-mail-marketing: selling services in the form of file rental, campaign creation and management, and so on.

Contact:
Email-Brokers Belgium (siège social)
Chililaan, 7 / Avenue du Chili, 7 - 1000 Brussels - Belgium
Phone: +32 (0)2 627.51.52 - Fax : +32 (0)2 640.88.08
Contact: [email protected]
CEO: William VandeWiele: [email protected]