Small business Internet use on the decline

Northwestern Financial Review, Aug 1, 2001

[national summary]

Small businesses appear to be reducing their use of the Internet for banking services. Banks are reluctant to market Internet services to small businesses and train these companies to use them. These findings come from two recent studies. Barlow Research Associates Inc. of Minneapolis interviewed 4,700 small-business owners and discovered that fewer were using their primary bank's Web site to complete transactions or get information during the second quarter than had in the first. And Informa Research Services of Calabasas, Calif., in a study done for the Consumer Bankers Association of Arlington, Va., found that Internet services for small businesses continue to be "vastly undersold" by banks.