Just 21 per cent of Irish businesses are using e-commerce to sell their products and online accounts for just 24 per cent of sales at firms who do sell over the internet, new Central Statistics Office (CSO) data show.
The Information Society Statistics on the enterprise sector show that manufacturers were most likely to sell using e-commerce, with 31 per cent participaton.
The use of e-commerce for purchasing has fallen from 63 per cent in 2009 to 49 per cent this year.
Just 11 per cent of construction firms sell using e-commerce, although 38 per cent use some form of electronic purchasing.
In the services sector 20 per cent of firms sell online and 43 per cent make purchases online.
Although 93 per cent of Irish businesses use a computer and 92 per cent use the internet, just 32 per cent of them have a written technology strategy.
The number of businesses with a website is up from 62 per cent last year to 68 per cent in 2010.
The CSO survey suggests the level of sophistication in businesses use of technology is quite low. Just 20 per cent of firms have an enterprise resource planning software package, 24 per cent use computers to store data about their customers and 25 per cent analyse information about clients for marketing purposes.
In relation to e-govenment, 82 per cent of businesses say they use the internet to obtain information or forms neceessary to interact with the public service. Just 32 per cent said they use the State's electronic tendering service.