Portuguese companies need to undergo a digital transformation in the next five years, the president of ACEPI – the Digital Economy Association, Alexandre Nilo Fonseca, told Lusa.
ACEPI is releasing today the study 'Digital Economy in Portugal 2009-2020', as part of Internet Week in Portugal 2015, which concluded that less than a third (31%) of Portuguese companies have an online presence.
One of the country's major challenges, according to Alexandre Nilo Fonseca, is enabling small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to "truly take advantage of digital", and this should be a "priority for the Government".
This is because practically 70% of Portuguese companies, corresponding to SMEs and micro-enterprises, do not have an online presence.
"SMEs need to be helped to come online", he said, pointing out that this could be done through EU 2020 funds, with a focus on training and business development.
There is a revolution to be made!
"Most of these companies [that are not online] are small and run by people who are not digital natives", he noted, stressing that "there is a revolution to be made" to equip them with digital knowledge, he said.
Alexandre Nilo Fonseca argued that Portuguese companies "need to undergo a digital transformation in the next five years".
"The big challenge is how companies will seize the opportunities [that digital brings] and the international market", he emphasised.
B2C e-commerce [between businesses and consumers] almost doubled in five years in Portugal, reaching a turnover of €2.9 billion in 2014, the study concluded.
By 2020, the turnover is estimated to rise to €5.4 billion.
Considering that Portuguese companies could be the "navigators of the 21st century", he recalled that Portugal benefits from having a market – Europe – where e-commerce is worth around €500 billion, having the fifth most spoken language in the world, or even being one of the countries with many computer engineering graduates.
These are advantages that Portuguese companies should seize in an increasingly digital world.
Alexandre Nilo Fonseca gave the example of the tourism sector, which has been using the Internet to become more competitive.
"The tourism market has already seen this", now "other sectors, such as commerce, must invest in the transition to digital", in order to increase productivity, competitiveness and exports, he stressed.
According to the study, of the Portuguese companies that have an online presence, the majority (90%) have a 'website', while the rest are present on third-party sites and on social networks.
More than half (50%) of Portuguese companies operating in retail and catering say they have an online store.
The study adds that more than two-thirds of Portuguese companies with an online presence have a .pt domain "because they are created for content in Portuguese and aimed at the Portuguese market".
Regarding online advertising, 73% say they are present through email marketing, social media advertising and search engines.
“Companies forecast a growth in the online marketing budget of around 60% for 2015,” the study states.
Currently, the digital marketing budget is 20%, and companies estimate it will be 32%.
Last year, the world population reached 7.2 billion people, of whom 2.7 billion were internet users (38%).
According to ACEPI, online shoppers number 1.1 billion people, 41% of internet users.
The Asia-Pacific region is the largest e-commerce market (B2C), followed by Europe and North America.
China has overtaken the United States and leads e-commerce, with the United Kingdom in third place.
Currently, China, the United States and the United Kingdom account for more than 50% of the global e-commerce market.
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