OTTAWA, Ont. — Only 27% of sales over the Internet were to consumers or households, despite another substantial increase last year. The dollar value of business-to-consumer sales rose 58.5% to $3.7 billion in 2002. Business-to-business sales reached $9.7 billion, an increase of 19.8%.

The retail trade sector accounted for 40% of the business-to-consumer market in 2002, the largest share, followed by the finance and insurance sector (16%) and information and cultural industries sector (13%).

Sales to consumers accounted for 97% of Internet sales from the arts, entertainment and recreation sector, followed by the retail trade sector, where they accounted for 84%.

The wholesale trade sector accounted for 36% of the business-to-business market in 2002, the largest share, up from 21% in 2001. It was followed by the manufacturing sector, which accounted for 20%, and transportation and warehousing, 19%.

Although online sales for export in 2002 increased marginally from $2.7 billion to $2.9 billion, the value of domestic online sales rose 35.1% to $10.4 billion in 2002. These sales accounted for nearly four-fifths of total e-commerce sales.

Retail trade had the largest share of the electronic export market, with 33%, followed by manufacturing (17%) and information and cultural industries (13%). More than one-half (56%) of all online sales in the retail trade sector went for export.