Introduction

The Information Society Statistics - Enterprises publication shows the results from the Survey on e-Commerce and ICT 2022. This version of the annual survey was conducted in the first half of 2022. The survey covers enterprises with 10 or more persons engaged in the Manufacturing, Construction, and selected Services sectors. Approximately 4,000 enterprises were surveyed online, with 50.7% of sampled enterprises completing the survey.

The survey questionnaire changes from year to year to reflect changes in e-commerce and Information & Communications Technology (ICT) in enterprises. New modules are introduced each year and modules that have not been included may be re-introduced in future years. The 2022 survey included questions on Internet Access and Usage, E-Commerce, IT Specialists, ICT and the Environment, ICT Security, the use of Robots, and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Enterprise responses to the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic and Government measures put in place to reduce its spread have made enterprises across Ireland change how they do business. In both 2021 and 2022, enterprises were asked about the ways in which these changes impacted their ICT usage. The results show that 15% of enterprises reported an increase in sales via websites or apps during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022, compared with 19% in 2021. One in ten enterprises, in both years, set up a website to facilitate online sales while 12% of enterprises provided a "click & collect" (reservation) service in 2022, compared with 18% in 2021. Nearly a quarter (24%) of enterprises increased their use of social media in 2022, compared with 31% in 2021, while 6% set up a new social media account in 2022, compared with 8% in 2021. The general decrease from 2021 to 2022 may reflect the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions and that many businesses had already implemented these practices in previous years.