With so few New Zealand businesses having a true online presence, or extremely limited online presence, the opportunity is there for savvy online entrepreneurs to make a big impact.

Aaron Schiff, an economist and blogger, says internet usage by businesses in New Zealand “sucks” and anyone who has a good idea for an internet business has an almost wide open field in the nation.

Schiff cites numbers from the Statistics New Zealand Business Operations Survey that say nearly a third of businesses don’t have a website of any kind; less than one in five businesses supports ordering on its website, and only around one in ten allow customers to make payments online. These numbers haven’t changed much in two years.

While the current numbers are dire, Schiff says, that does mean that huge opportunities await people willing to take the plunge to create an online business or get their bricks and mortar business online.

To read more on this story, click here.