Fun Fact #6
Only 17 percent of [SMB] respondents said they have an e-commerce enabled website, and 71 percent have no plans to develop e-commerce capabilities in the future. – Financial Post
PayPal Study Finds SMBs Digitally Underrepresented
A recent study by PayPal Canada found some unsettling facts concerning how small businesses are interacting (or realistically not interacting) with the digital economy. With over 80% of Canadians now shopping online and Canadian e-spending predicted to hit $42 billion by 2018 ($27 trillion throughout the world by 2020), this is a huge missed opportunity for small businesses to not only survive but thrive in the changing landscape.
The study also highlighted that:
- less than 1 in 5 Canadian SMBs were using e-invoicing, a digital marketplace, or an e-commerce website
- 83% of Canadian small businesses do not accept online or mobile payment
- SMBs that only work offline have an average revenue of 80K, while those that work both offline and online pull in 175K (more than double)
- 72% of businesses who do not have an online presence say they don’t have enough technology or e-marketing knowledge to compete
- 71% have no plans to ever sell their goods or services online
Canadians rely on small businesses. Some of these businesses grow immensely across the country (and the world), while some stay small and service their local community. Everyone knows someone who makes the community a little bit brighter through the work they do through their local business. While the information from the PayPal study sounds bleak for Canadian SMBs, it doesn’t have to be.
As we’ve previously discussed, digital players like Google are doing their best to help small businesses compete in the digital marketplace. Here at Acquisio, we’ve harnessed our tried-and-true machine learning technology in a way that helps SMBs develop a real digital presence through an easy to use, accessible platform called Promote. With Promote, small businesses do not need to have the big budgets and technological know-how of digital agencies – all they need is a desire to step outside their comfort zone and try a new approach! The best part is, they see real results that make a real difference in their business.
To learn more about Promote, check out this video and our latest webinar on how machine learning will change small business forever!
Image Credits
Feature Image: Unsplash/ Harry Sandhu
Image 1: created by Cassy Trussell