Small firms underestimate the costs and benefits of having a web site - Industry Trend or Event - Brief Article

Telecomworldwire, Oct 6, 2000

TELECOMWORLDWIRE-6 October 2000-Small firms underestimate the costs and benefits of having a web site (C)1994-2000 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD http://www.m2.com

Small businesses in the UK are confused about how the Internet could help their business, according to the e-business incubator Xworks.

Just under half (48%) of the small businesses questioned by Xworks said that they did not have a web site and of those 45% said they did not understand the benefits that an Internet presence might bring to the company. Furthermore, many of the small businesses that said they did have a web site were not utilising the site as a sales channel: just half said that the company used the site for selling goods or services online.

Perhaps most worryingly, many of those businesses that were not online underestimate the expense involved in setting up an e-commerce web site: 91% put the cost at under GBP1,000 when in reality the average cost is between GBP6,000 and GBP10,000.

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