Spanish companies invoiced 10% less for online sales in pandemic

Spanish companies billed 275.39 billion euros in sales through electronic commerce in 2020, the year of the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and confinement.

This amount is 10.4% lower than that of 2019, according to the Survey on use of ICT and E-Commerce in Enterprises produced by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

The online purchases of Spanish companies also fell. Goods and services were purchased electronically amounting to 222.10 billion euros, which represents a decrease of 14% compared to 2019.

Despite the confinement, sales through electronic commerce represented 19.1% of total sales carried out by companies with 10 or more employees, a similar figure to the previous year.

Regarding the use of ICT in small companies, INE data show that one in five companies with fewer than 10 employees allowed teleworking in the first quarter of 2021.

The characteristics that have increased the most in the first quarter in these companies are the fixed internet connection and the staff connected to the internet.

On the contrary, the percentage of companies that employ ICT specialists decreased by one point compared to the same period in 2020.