Don't Click Here to Order
April 24, 2007

The move online by small businesses has slowed, says the National Small Business Assn. www.nsba.net The group tells the Wall St. Journal that 40% of 500 firms surveyed don’t have a Website; and two-thirds don’t provide for e-commerce.

How come?

Cause the cost and effort of being online exceeds the value of the opportunity. Printers jumped into the game early; a study by InfoTrends and Clemson U. found 88% have Websites; a PIA/GATF study determined 40% do e-commerce, often with custom-built utilities.

Trolling for the NSBA report I found an even more important figure: very small businesses have poor access to capital, a situation that is remedied as they go up in size. So self-funding through personal loans, cash flow, and (ugh!) credit cards form the economic lubricant for small business growth: 36% carry credit card balances of $10,000 and up—one-third of them carrying $25,000 or more.

Even more important to printers: 40% of small businesses would advertise if they had more money; 13% would grow their Web presence.

Posted by on April 24, 2007 | Comments (0)