Heavy Web Use Seen Correlating With Sales Growth for SMBs

March 21, 2012

bcg-smb-web-use-sales-growth-march2012.jpgSMBs that use a wide range of internet tools to market, sell, and support customers, interact with suppliers, and empower employees (high-Web) appear to enjoy faster sales growth than those who either just have a website or social networking site (low-Web), or do not have a website at all (no-Web), according to survey results released in March 2012 by the Boston Consulting Group. High-web SMBs in the US experienced 10% growth in historical 3-year sales, compared to a decline in sales growth of 5% among low-Web and no-Web SMBs. Similar, if not even larger discrepancies in historical 3-year sales growth between high-Web and low- or no-Web SMBs were found in China (25% vs. 9%), Turkey (17% vs. -5%), and Germany (18% vs. 4%).

Within the US, high- and medium-web (those that sell goods or services online) SMBs expect to grow by 17% over the next 3 years, compared to 12% for low- and no-Web companies.

One-Quarter of US Ad Budgets Spent Online

Meanwhile, US SMBs appear to be making good use of digital media, per a February 2012 report from BIA/Kelsey. 87% of survey respondents in Q4 2011 said they used digital media, down slightly from 90% in Q4 2010, but representing a 7.4% increase from 81% in Q4 2009. And these respondents appear to be finding value in their online media use, allocating 24.3% of their total ad budget to online channels, and an estimated 26% over the next 12 months.

Overall, SMBs used 4.4 different media types in Q4 2011, relatively unchanged from a year earlier (4.6), but up from 3.1 in Q4 2009.

Many Opt for Self-Service

SMBs seem confident in their abilities to purchase online advertising directly on the internet: 63% expressed a willingness to do so, compared to 22.3% who were not willing, and 14.7% who were unsure. Among the channels used to purchase online advertising, self (without a live operator) was most common, at 36.1%, followed by a Yellow Pages salesperson (23.5%), self (with a live operator – 16.4%), a newspaper salesperson (12.6%), an agency, and a radio salesperson (both at 8%).

Other Findings:

  • 52% of BIA/Kelsey survey respondents reported using social media to promote their businesses, and 22% planned to have a YouTube video up in the next year. Data from a Constant Contact survey released in February indicates that almost 40% of UK SMBs are using social media for marketing purposes, with 79% of those planning to increase their use of the channel in the next year.
  • The Constant Contact survey respondents said that leading benefits of social media included the ability to generate word of mouth and referrals (48%), its cost effectiveness (47%), it being a good way to communicate with existing and prospective customers (45%), and its helping their businesses succeed (45%). According to a March 2012 report from Payvment, small businesses selling on Facebook are most happy with the ability to promote products via social marketing (61%), customers not having to leave Facebook to buy (60%), and the ease of setting up and maintaining a storefront (50%).

About the Data: The BCG data is based on a survey of approximately 4,700 SMBs. The BIA/Kelsey results are based on a survey of roughly 300 SMBs. The Constant Contact survey was conducted in October 2011 by Chadwick Martin Bailey via an online forum launched in the UK. A total of 680 respondents participated in the study. The Payvment results are based on a survey of 750 users of its Facebook commerce platform across 12 countries. The survey was fielded online between February 15 and February 28, 2012.

Chart-Library-Ad-1

Explore More Articles.

Which Skills Are Important in RevOps?

Which Skills Are Important in RevOps?

9 in 10 RevOps professionals view data analysis skills as being important, a high percentage also don’t believe they need this skill for their job.

Marketing Charts Logo

Stay on the cutting edge of marketing.

Sign up for our free newsletter.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This