Scottish Chambers quoted figures from the Office for National Statistics indicating that e-commerce sales had totalled £573 billion in 2014 —- representing 20.1 per cent of business turnover.

The campaign will stress that e-commerce is about more than website design and retail activity.

Nora Senior, chair of Scottish Chambers, will launch the “E-commerce Excellence” project at an event in Edinburgh on Wednesday.

Ms Senior, who is also president of British Chambers of Commerce, will tell her audience: “E-commerce is the sleeping giant of Scottish business. The world is moving fast and there is already a risk that our traders, whose products are highly attractive to international markets, will be left behind by this powerful new vehicle for promoting jobs, growth and exports.”

She will warn: “E-commerce is a precise and demanding medium requiring a specialist set of digital skills. It requires immense attention to detail and flexibility to keep up with constant technical developments.The UK is a world leader, but the hotspots are currently in London and the English Midlands. There is no reason Scottish traders can’t fully share these benefits.

“Scottish businesses need a reliable, commercially neutral source of practical, actionable advice on online trading, and the Chambers can facilitate this by linking up would-be e-commerce players with experienced providers and sharing their knowledge throughout the business community.”

Scottish Chambers highlighted the online trading successes of Scottish businesses such as Toolstop, Barrhead Travel, The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, and Jenier Teas but it stressed “there is no shared expertise or critical mass within the embryonic Scottish e-commerce sector”.