Report Says 79% of Small Businesses Regularly Shop Online
Report Says 79% of Small Businesses Regularly Shop Online According to a report released this month by Jupiter Research, about 79% of small businesses who are online shop the web for products and services. The report is called "Small-Business Online Shopping: Understanding Online Research and Purchase Behavior."This is a larger percentage than for regular consumers. According to the report 65% of online consumers bought products over the web in 2005. The two most important factors affecting purchasing decisions are brand familiarity and comparison shopping. In a prepared statement, Sonal Gandhi, the lead author of the report said, "Traditionally, small businesses have bought from suppliers based on ongoing relationships and we have found that they are emulating this same purchasing behavior online." Further, he sdaid, "Sixty-two percent of small business online purchases are influenced by familiarity or an existing online or off-line relationship with a supplier. Comparison shopping, however, also influences almost one-half of the online small business purchases." The product categories likely to show the stongest move towards online shopping by online small business entrepreneurs are things such as advertising and/or marketing services, financial services, credit cards, vehicles and furniture. Currently, the most popular services purchased online by small-business are travel and computer hardware, software, and office supplies. Website features that drive online sales are the availability of comparative information, ease of use, convenience, and the extent to which online entrepreneurs effectively communicate with small-business customers to retain customer loyalty and capture recurring business. Linknet News Summaries
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