ICT usage and e-Commerce in Enterprises: 2024
Internet use by enterprises
During 2024, enterprises across all surveyed economic activities and size classes registered high levels of internet usage (Table 1). A total of 82,254 employees used the internet for business purposes during 2024. Construction, and Wholesale and Retail Trade activities were the economic activity groups with the lower shares of internet usage among all enterprises (Table 2).
Chart 1. Maximum contracted download speed by enterprises
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Remote access to enterprises’ systems and security measures
In 2024, 91.2 per cent of enterprises provided remote access to their employees. Almost all of these enterprises enabled remote access to the organisation’s email system whereas nine out of every 10 provided employees with access to documents (Table 3).
This surge in remote access increased the enterprises’ exposure to ICT-related security incidents. To counteract such incidents, 93.9 per cent of enterprises implemented some form of ICT security measures on their own ICT systems. The most common security measures were authentication via strong passwords (90.5 per cent) along with the creation of data backups in separate locations (83.8 per cent) (Table 4).
E-Commerce sales
The national share of enterprises conducting sales through e-commerce was almost 11 percentage points higher than the EU-27 average.
Chart 2. Percentage of enterprises conducting sales through e-Commerce
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In this regard, the number of enterprises engaging in sales through e-commerce increased by 2.1 percentage points over 2023 levels (Table 5). In 2024, total turnover generated through e-commerce sales amounted to €2.9 billion. EDI-type sales garnered 53.5 per cent of total e-commerce sales.
During 2024, 78.3 per cent of the total turnover generated via e-commerce web sales was effected via the enterprise’s own website or apps.
Chart 3. Turnover generated from e-commerce sales
Note: total may not add up due to rounding.
Chart 4. Turnover generated from e-commerce web sales by platform
Digital Intensity Index
Almost five out of every 10 enterprises had a ‘high’ or ‘very high’ digital intensity index rating. Enterprises operating in the Real estate, professional, administrative and other service activities or the Accommodation and food service activities, Transport and communication sectors reported the highest Digital Intensity Index (Table 6).
Tables
Tables
ICT usage and e-Commerce in Enterprises: 2024
- In 2024, the majority (97.9%) of enterprises with at least 10 employees used the internet.
- A total of 82,254 employees used the internet for business purposes during 2024.
- 91.2 per cent of enterprises have remote access to their own systems.
- Turnover generated through e-commerce sales amounted to €2.9 billion.
ICT usage and e-Commerce in Enterprises: 2024
Methodological Notes
1. The survey on ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises is conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO) on an annual basis, under European Regulation (EC) No. 2019/1700. The survey covers enterprises employing 10 or more employees (including employees on both full-time and part-time basis and excluding apprentices and interns) from selected economic sectors. This survey studies various aspects of the Maltese digital economy and society, focusing on the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) by enterprises.
2. For the purpose of this news release, a sample of enterprises employing a minimum of 10 employees (full-time and part-time) were surveyed. The register of businesses maintained by NSO was used as the sampling frame for this survey.
3. The enterprise, as defined in the Council Regulation (EC) No 696/93 of 15 March 1993 is “The smallest combination of legal units that is an organizational unit producing goods or services, which benefits from a certain degree of autonomy in decision-making, especially for the allocation of its current resources. An enterprise carries out one or more activities at one or more locations. An enterprise may be a sole legal unit.” Economic activity is based on the enterprises’ main activity.
4. Enterprises were divided into strata depending on their size class and economic activity, in line with NACE Rev. 2 Classification.
| Table M1. Size Class and Main Economic Activity | |||
| Total number of enterprises |
|||
| 2023 | 2024 | ||
| Size class | |||
| 10-49 employees | 2,183 | 2,193 | |
| 50-249 employees | 468 | 463 | |
| 250+ employees | 83 | 92 | |
| Total | 2,734 | 2,748 | |
| Nace Rev. 2 | Main economic activity (full description of sections) | ||
| C, D and E | Manufacturing; Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply;
Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities |
357 | 348 |
| F | Construction | 202 | 224 |
| G | Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles | 683 | 649 |
| H, I and J | Transportation and storage; Accommodation and food service activities;
Information and communication |
776 | 801 |
| L, M, N and S | Real estate activities; Professional, scientific and technical activities; Administrative and support service activities; Other service activities |
716 | 726 |
| Total | 2,734 | 2,748 | |
5. An overall response rate of 72.3 per cent was achieved. Some questionnaires were returned to the Office with incomplete data, resulting in item non-response. These were then imputed using appropriate statistical methods. Furthermore, various non-sampling errors could have occurred, primarily related to the respondent and/or errors during processing. While every effort was made to minimise such occurrences, these are known to be present and remain impossible to quantify precisely.
6. Definitions:
a. e-commerce is the sales of goods or services conducted over computer networks by methods specifically designed for the purpose of receiving orders. Two types of e-commerce are identified in this news release:
b. Web sales are sales made via an online store (web shop), or via web forms on a website, or extranet, or via web applications;
c. EDI-type sales are sales made via EDI-type messages (EDI: Electronic Data Interchange) meaning:
– in an agreed or standard format suitable for automated processing (e.g. EDIFACT, XML, etc.);
– without the individual message being typed manually.
7. More information relating to this news release may be accessed at:
Sources and methods
Statistical concepts
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9. References to this news release are to be cited appropriately. For guidance on access and re-use of data please visit our dedicated webpage.
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The implementation of the ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises survey for 2024 has been partially funded by the European Union.
