A new report by Deloitte Access finds Australia's internet economy last year was worth about $A50 billion - only slightly less than the retail sector and on a par with the iron ore export industry.
The report says about 190,000 people are now employed in the internet economy - spread across e-commerce, advertising, IT, software and consulting.
Deloitte expects online business to grow at around 7% per year over the next five years or more than double the forecast GDP of the economy overall.
