The government has commissioned a gap analysis on e-commerce in Malta with the view of compiling and publishing a policy document in the near future, it was announced yesterday.
In a press conference held at the Industry, Investment and IT Ministry yesterday, Minister Austin Gatt said that the government did not want to jump to conclusions on the issue, which is why it approached Pricewaterhouse Coopers to compile the report.
Dr Gatt said that while e-commerce was an opportunity for business owners, one had to realise that it would never be the same as in foreign countries, simply due to Malta’s geographical limitations.
He said that 96 per cent of businesses in Malta employed fewer than 10 people. “If we do not manage to find a common e-commerce platform for them to work from, they will be left behind,” said Dr Gatt.
He gave a practical example by saying that 60 per cent of enterprises with more than 10 employees used online banking, but only 30 per cent of micro- (>10 employees) enterprises used it.
However, he said that advances had been made. “In 2003, only about 500 transactions per day were being carried out online but in 2006, some 5,000 transactions per day are going through,” said Dr Gatt.
Dr Gatt believes that the field can definitely grow, with the help of a common platform for business. “But as usual, in this country, it is our peculiar cultural outlook that causes the problems. In any country and city in the world, you can log onto a common website that lists all hotels and facilities in the area, with the added feature of being able to make online bookings,” he said.
He said he could simply not understand how Maltese hoteliers never got round to getting a common agent to set up such a service. “Unfortunately it had to be the government that decided something had to be done about it, which is why we are now in contact with the Malta Tourism Authority,” he said.
Dr Gatt said that from its part, the government now needed to come up with a policy and draw up a document to address the issues highlighted in the gap analysis. Asked by this newspaper about the feasibility of individual trading for tangible goods over the internet locally, Dr Gatt agreed that it would not be feasible for individual businesses to try and push ahead. “We need the concept of e-malls. I can take an example from Siena in Italy. There is a web-shop where artisans have come together on a common platform to sell their wares through the net. Why can this not be done in Malta?”
He said that one access point with complimentary merchandise could indeed be the way forward. “But again, they need a common platform to work from,” he said. Pressed further, Dr Gatt said that the government had already offered fiscal incentives for IT companies to set up similar ventures. “But it did not seem like there was that much uptake. I do not exclude that the government might again have to come up with something to kick-start the programme,” said Dr Gatt. He said that the policy document could be expected by September to October of this year.