Hello origanomarketing,
Thank you for your question.
Here are some concerns I've found that should interest business owners.
Jupiter Research
"JupiterResearch Predicts 82 Percent of Small Businesses Will Be Online by 2011"
http://www.tekrati.com/research/News.asp?id=8159
'JupiterResearch estimates that 78 percent, or almost 20 million small
businesses, currently use the Internet on a regular basis. "Small
businesses spent over $43 billion in 2005 in business purchases
online," said Sonal Gandhi, a JupiterResearch analyst. "Their online
influenced off-line spending is likely to be considerably higher."'
-----
IT Needs--
Webhosting for Small Business
http://webhosting.resourceindex.com/articles/000014.html
"Recent findings from market research firm The Yankee Group found that
over 50 percent of small to medium-sized businesses (SMB) now employ
some type of outsourcing to fulfill their information technology (IT)
needs."
"One of the main reasons that SMBs are increasing their use of
outsourcing services is to help lift the burden from already-taxed IT
staff. According to The Yankee Group, the ratio of IT staff support to
personal computers in small businesses is 1:25, while medium-sized
businesses have a ratio of 1:33. In fact, some small businesses - 29
percent of very small businesses - have no full time IT staffs at all,
according to Yankee."
-----
Internet retail--
"Google, Yahoo, Amazon, Accelerate Internet Economy, Per Research and Markets"
http://www.cheaphostingdirectory.com/news-google-yahoo-amazon-accelerate-internet-economy-per-research-and-markets-2601.html
"It is estimated that around one million companies worldwide now rely
on the Internet economy for more than 50% of their revenue."
E-Commerce Times
"Report: Online Sales To Grow 22 Percent this Year"
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/43319.html
Online sales grew by 24% in 2004 and 22% in 2005.
Brick-and-mortar stores have a more difficult time getting sales
online than their catalog counterparts-- customers don't see much
difference between catalog buying and internet buying.
----
Internet ads--
More and more, businesses are turning away from traditional
advertising methods such as television and newspapers to advertise
their services on the Web.
CNet
"Internet ad revenue climbs 26 percent"
http://news.com.com/Internet+ad+revenue+climbs+26+percent/2100-1024_3-5882670.html
"As of June, advertisers had spent $5.8 billion to place ads online
this year, a 26 percent increase compared with the first six months of
2004, according to a new report."
There is also a huge growth in classified ads online:
CNet
"Classifieds dominate local ads growth online"
http://news.com.com/Classifieds+dominate+local+ads+growth+online/2100-1024_3-5875663.html
E-Commerce Times
"Does Online Advertising Enhance Offline Sales?"
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/41709.html
------
Search engine optimization--
Here is a website that deals with SEO:
Free Ways To Drive Traffic to Your Web Site
http://www.score.org/eb_29.html
According to the E-Commerce Times, 43% of first-time visitors to a
site get there by search engine placement.
----
Better customer experience--
E-Commerce Times
"Report: Online Sales To Grow 22 Percent this Year"
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/43319.html
A recent study found that 89% of customers had a difficult online
buying experience, and 33% of those customers gave up.
----
Certain industries appeal more to online buyers than others--
From the above E-Commerce Times article:
Computer hardware and software is bought on the Net at a 50% rate and
books at 20%. Some goods are just more appealing to online buyers
than others.
----
Keeping customers once they're on the site--
E-Commerce Times
"Online Consumers Window Shop More than Impulse Buy"
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/42761.html
According to a study of online shoppers' habits, internet customers
were likely to visit 10 or more sites before returning to their
favorite to make a purchase. The phenomenon is called "shopping cart
abandonment".
-----
Planning for Certain Holidays and Occasions--
Certain holidays can boost sales, and business owners have to be able
to plan for that possibility.
"FIFTY-FIVE PERCENT OF U.S. SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS EXPECT STRONG
VALENTINE'S DAY SALES, ACCORDING TO CONSTANT CONTACT SURVEY"
http://www.constantcontact.com/about-constant-contact/press/2006/press_2006_0124.jsp
For instance, 71% of US small businesses expected greater sales on Valentine's Day.
Christmas is also a huge buying holiday.
BBC News
"Festive boom for online shopping"
Sign On San Diego
"Internet sales expected to grow this year; season unofficially begins
with Cyber Monday"
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20061126-9999-mz1b26shoppi.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4630472.stm
-----
Online banking--
CheckFree Press Release
"CheckFree Small Business(SM) Delivers Electronic Bill Payment,
Invoicing and Receivables Solution for Financial Institutions' Small
Business Customers"
http://ir.checkfreecorp.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=94799&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=931015&highlight=
'An estimated 40 percent of small businesses currently use online
banking services and that figure is expected to grow to 60 percent by
the end of 2008, according to a recent Aite Group report titled
"Winning the Hearts and Wallets of Small Business Customers."'
----
Gaining international customers--
PayPal's Latest News
http://www.shareholder.com/paypal/current.cfm?ArtYear=2005
"In a recent survey of 900 companies from IPSOS, 65 percent of small
business owners said the biggest benefit of selling online was the
increased customer base, often extending their markets
internationally. Sixty-four percent said they experienced increased
revenue and sales."
----
Use of blogs or RSS feeds--
http://www.small-business-software.net/
"Nearly half, 41.6 percent, of retailers will incorporate blogs or RSS
feeds into their holiday marketing strategy..."
Wikipedia Entry-- Corporate Blog
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_blog
"More than 5% of the Fortune 500 companies blog externally.
A market research shows that 35 percent of large companies plan to
institute corporate Weblogs in 2006. According to the research,
combined with the existing deployed base of 34 percent, nearly 70
percent of all corporate website operators will have implemented
corporate blogs by the end of 2006."
---
Responding to customer service emails--
E-Commerce Times
"Report: E-tail Flails at Customer Service E-Mail"
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/9333.html
Jupiter Media reported results of a study that found that fewer than
40% of companies responded to customer emails within six hours and
nearly one-fourth never reply at all. 38% of companies respond
within six hours and 33% take more than three days to get back with
customers.
----
Email marketing campaigns--
Which types of email are spam and which are not? Many business owners
choose to have an opt-in email list to send out marketing
announcements. Ads/messages must be carefully worded to avoid being
sent to junk mail. Companies spend billions each year sending out
email messages to their customers.
E-Commerce Times
"Walking the Line Between E-Mail and Spam"
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/8966.html
----
Tracking Customers--
Businesses do not do an efficient job with tracking online customers.
Network World Fusion
"Analysis: Merchants ineffectively tracking shoppers' habits"
http://www.itworld.com/Man/2694/NWW010717habits/
Many customers are added by word of mouth, but online businesses do
little to track this phenomenon.
------
Setting up an attractive site--
According to a survey, 89% of businesspeople are not impressed with
visited websites, and 66% wouldn't return to a website once they have
had a bad experience with it.
"Can Your Business Afford Online Turnoffs?"
http://www.websitesource.com/news/website-turnoffs.shtml
In addition, businesses with a website have grown 46% faster than those without.
---------------
The Dutch share of the online retail market is about 0.047%.
Forrester Surveys
http://www.forrester.com/Research/Document/Excerpt/0,7211,39982,00.html
"Today, Dutch eCommerce leads the Benelux, with more than ?3 billion
in online retail sales forecast for this year. In five years, total
online sales in the Netherlands will reach ?12 billion, which will
keep the country as one of the top five eCommerce players in Europe ?
behind Italy, but ahead of Spain. In 2011, more than half of the Dutch
adult population will buy holidays, clothes, and electronics via the
Internet."
My data on worldwide online spending is here:
Jupiter Media
"JUPITERRESEARCH FORECASTS ONLINE RETAIL SPENDING WILL REACH $144
BILLION IN 2010, A CAGR OF 12% FROM 2005"
http://www.jupitermedia.com/corporate/releases/06.02.06-newjupresearch.html
"JupiterResearch, a division of Jupitermedia Corporation (Nasdaq:
JUPM) forecasts that online retail spending will increase from $81
billion in 2005 to $95 billion in 2006, and will grow to $144 billion
in 2010."
Sources:
XE-- Universal Currency Converter
http://www.xe.com/ucc/
PayPal Press Release
http://www.shareholder.com/paypal/releaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=156720&Category=US
Search terms:
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businesses email customer service percent
businesses tracking customers percent
businesses website easy percent
If you need any additional clarification, let me know and I'll be glad
to assist you.
--keystroke-ga |
