In this week’s wrap, business confidence in South Australia takes a fall, and an e-business report shows that South Australian businesses are lagging interstate competitors in the digital realm.

South Australia’s online paradox

A report into online business released this morning has found that South Australians are number one in the nation for purchasing groceries online – but SA businesses are less likely than those interstate to embrace online sales.

The 2015 Sensis e-Business Report found that one quarter of South Australians have bought their groceries online, compared to the national average of 17 per cent.

Despite this finding, the report found the most popular item bought online by South Australians was clothing (53 per cent), followed by airline tickets (45 per cent).

However, SA businesses are the least likely in Australia to have a digital business strategy (12 per cent versus 17 per cent nationally) and the least likely to take orders online.

SA businesses are also the most likely to focus on local sales (74 per cent versus 66 per cent nationally). Only 17 per cent sell to international customers and only 4 per cent target overseas customers as their main focus.

The survey measures the online experiences of 1,000 Australian small and medium businesses (SMBs) and 800 Australian consumers.

SA business confidence and conditions fall

A survey of South Australian business released this week shows confidence is falling and most businesses expect the local economy to weaken over the next 12 months.

The Business SA Survey of Business Expectations for the June quarter showed a decline in the confidence index compared to the March quarter, when there was a modest increase.

The results also show declining sales and profitability.

The business confidence index dropped by 2.6 index points to 83.2. Year-on-year business confidence is down by 5.1 index points.

This contrasts with the national picture, which shows an upswing in business confidence.

General business conditions in SA fell “significantly” by 16.4 points to 72.2. This was 19.7 index points lower than the expected result forecast in March.

In addition, more than two thirds of businesses (67.1 per cent) expect the South Australian economy to weaken over the next 12 months. Only 7.1 per cent of businesses are predicting growth.