RESEARCH
Every figure on this page is sourced and dated. Where we could not verify a number, we left it out rather than round it up — which is why this page is shorter than most stats pages you'll find.
Last updated: Sat Aug 08 2026 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
The short version: roughly half of New Zealand businesses still have no website, the figure is far worse for sole traders, and nearly three-quarters of New Zealanders say a website is their main way of engaging with a business. That gap is the opportunity.
| Figure | What it measures | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 53% | NZ businesses that have a website | InternetNZ, 2025 |
| 47% | NZ businesses with no website at all | InternetNZ, 2025 |
| ~25% | Sole traders that have a website — about one in four | InternetNZ, 2025 |
| 61% | NZ businesses saying a website is their most important digital tool | InternetNZ, 2025 |
The 53% figure has not moved since 2022. Businesses increasingly say a website matters — 61% call it their most important digital tool — but the share that actually has one has stalled.
Why this matters for a tradie: most trade businesses are sole traders or very small operations, which is the group with the lowest website rate of all. If about three in four sole traders have no website, the tradie who does isn't competing with everyone in their suburb. They're competing with the quarter who bothered.
| Figure | What it measures | Source |
|---|---|---|
| ~73% | New Zealanders saying a business's website is the most important tool for engaging with it — "nearly three-quarters" | InternetNZ, 2025 |
| 52% | Consumers who see a website's main usefulness as enabling online sales | InternetNZ, 2025 |
| 25% | Businesses who see their website that way — less than half the consumer figure | InternetNZ, 2025 |
| 42% | Businesses who see their website as being about credibility | InternetNZ, 2025 |
| 17% | Consumers who see a website as being about credibility | InternetNZ, 2025 |
Those last two rows are the interesting ones, and they cut against how most agencies sell websites. Businesses think their website's job is to look credible. Consumers are far more interested in whether it lets them actually do something — find the information, make contact, get the job moving.
Why this matters for a tradie: a site that's mostly a polished brand statement is built for what you think matters. A site that makes it obvious what you do, where you work and how to reach you is built for what your customer came for.
| Figure | What it measures | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 74% | NZ businesses agreeing a .nz domain is more trustworthy than other domains | InternetNZ, 2025 |
| 58% | The same measure in 2020 — trust in .nz has grown substantially | InternetNZ, 2020 |
| 70% | NZ businesses with a website that use a .nz domain | InternetNZ, 2025 |
| 67% | NZ consumers agreeing .nz is more trustworthy | InternetNZ, 2022 |
| 76% | Consumers who look for domains ending in .nz when searching online | InternetNZ, 2022 |
A note on a number you'll see misquoted. The 74% figure measures businesses, not consumers or "Kiwis" generally. We had it wrong on this site until August 2026 and corrected it. If you see a New Zealand web agency claiming "74% of Kiwis trust .nz more than .com", they've made the same mistake — the consumer figure is 67%, from the 2022 research.
Stats pages are usually padded with impressive-sounding numbers nobody can trace. A few we considered and dropped:
If you have a primary source for either of the first two, tell us and we'll add it with proper attribution.
You're welcome to quote anything on this page — it's why we sourced it. A link back to this page is appreciated but not required. If you're citing a figure, please cite InternetNZ as the original researcher rather than us; we've only collected and checked their work.
We review this page annually and whenever InternetNZ publishes new research.
Three in four sole traders don't have one. Nearly three-quarters of your potential customers say a website is their main way of engaging with a business. Those two facts are the whole argument, and neither of them needs exaggerating.
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