mail order business - Austria / II. Republic of Austria 2003 - 55 Euro Cent

With more than 500,000 employees working in more than 20 different sectors, the importance of Austrian trade as an economic factor is constantly increasing. With the change from an industrial to a service economy, trade is increasingly becoming a factor of macroeconomic value creation. In the past, value creation was seen only in the production of goods, and today it is known that trade, through innovative ideas, makes products more valuable and thus creates considerable value. With a value added of about 14 percent, the Austrian retail trade is well above the European average. While small retail businesses can only contribute little to value creation because of the high investment requirements, large retail chains already account for more than 20 percent of sales. A key factor is also the mail order business, where about 45 percent of adults over 15 years buy. This is more than 3.5 million customers. A striking difference exists between male and female customers: about 53 percent of all women in Austria buy by mail order, but only 37 percent of men.