iSelect, an Australian online insurance comparison company, made the opposite of a splash when it listed on the Australian Securities Exchange recently. It started at A$1.85 per share but fell and closed at A$1.56 per share, losing 15.7 percent of its market capitalisation of A$479.3 million in the process.
Reasons given for iSelect’s poor performance were that its technology was “not groundbreaking” and it already has strong competition in its field with even more competition possible.
As Australia continues to roll out its $38 billion National Broadband Network, which will bring high-speed internet to almost all the 23 million population of the country, some government higher ups are predicting a boom in online and high tech businesses.
“As the rollout of the NBN continues, the capacity for start-up companies, particularly in the tech and digital sectors, to create game-changing businesses and applications is unprecedented,” said Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, recently.
Currently, online and high-tech start-ups only account for about 0.1% of GDP and 9,500 jobs. But the sector is growing rapidly and a recent report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) suggests it could account for 4% of GDP and 540,000 jobs by 2033.
The rise of young startups has seen them start to populate the ranks of the Business Review Weekly Young Rich List, which ranks the wealthiest people in the country under 41.
The list includes 24 tech and online startup company founders, including: software entrepreneurs Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar at the top; PC Tools founder Simon Clausen at No. 4; serial entrepreneur specialising in online retail sites Ruslan Kogan at No. 8; Bigcommerce founders Mitchell Harper and Eddie Machaalani at No. 10; and freelancer.com founder Matt Barrie at No. 50.
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Founded in 2009 by former Google employees Jodie Fox, Michael Fox and Mike Knapp, Shoes of Prey allows people to design their own women’s shoes using a virtual 3D designer that lets them pick style, shape, height and materials. The shoes are then custom made and shipped anywhere in the world within a few weeks.
The Sydney-based company reportedly received $3 million in funding last year.
Founded in 2006 by Ruslan Kogen and headquartered in Melbourne, Kogan Technologies is an Australian consumer electronics manufacturer and retailer.
The company’s business model is to sell products direct from Asia to customers in Australia and the United Kingdom, bypassing the industry’s usual middlemen.
Kogan Technologies’ 2012 revenue was $100 million.
Online business in Australia has jumped by 25%.
Orders made over the internet, including both within Australia and from overseas, reaped more than $237 billion in revenues in the 2011-12 financial year over the year before, according to the IT Use and Innovation in Australian Business report released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics this week.
Information media and telecommunications businesses received the most online orders in 2011-12, followed by wholesale trade manufacturing whilst agriculture, forestry and fishing had the lowest proportion of online orders.
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An Australia Post official has revealed that the traditional mail carrier will likely see a drop of $200 million in business this year.
In addition to losing $200 million in business this year, those losses will increasingly get “bigger and bigger as people move from physical to digital communications,” said Catriona Larritt, who is General Manager, of Post Digital at Australia Post at the Digital Productivity Conference in Brisbane recently.
The organisation has been losing about 4 to 5% of physical mail volume since 2008 and this year, it will deliver one billion fewer letters than in 2008.
She also said that Australia Post is three years into a five-year transitional program to address the shift from physical to digital communications. So far the program has resulted in the relatively new Digital Mailbox service and other e-commerce initiatives.
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James van Rooyen and Jonathon Allara are two Australian entrepreneurs who started a bike hire company that has become one of the seven top selling bike companies in Australia. Van Rooyen who had a job in marketing, and Allara who was an accountant found out about the power of ecommerce and how it can transform their business into a successful one. They have started with a $16000 and setup Manly Bike Tours. Now, their company is selling over 5000 bikes a year, they have 13 staff, and makes a revenue of $3 million a year.
To read more about this article please click the following link: http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/growing/online-bike-venture-riding-high-20130527-2n695.html
Due to the economic slowdown Australians are becoming more reliant on online business sites, which is just another way for boosting economy and going about increasing their savings. Online business is very successful and offers many benefits, whether it is used to increase the number of sales for a business, to get a business back on track or to start a new business from scratch.
ING Direct executive director Rob Hendriks says “Australians are very creative in boosting their income. We see an increased effort in selling goods online, taking additional jobs, and especially in New South Wales we see a lot of women entering the workforce.”
You can read the full article at http://www.smartcompany.com.au/economy/049233-more-australians-to-start-online-businesses-as-two-speed-economy-takes-hold.html
