August 13, 2021
A new opinion poll finds that 23 percent of small retailers don’t have a website.
When asked why, the top answers were:
- Social media meets all the requirements of online business, 33 percent;
- We’ve never needed one, 32 percent;
- We focused on our niche, 29 percent;
- Most of our customers don’t go online, 29 percent;
- Don’t have enough staff, 26 percent;
- Don’t have the money to build one, 26 percent;
- They don’t know how to build / run a website, 24 percent;
- It’s a waste of time, 21 percent.
Digital.com’s survey, which provides ratings for website tools, was conducted in early May and included 1,250 small retailers (500 or fewer employees) across a number of channels.
ON opinion poll of 500 smaller companies from last December from Top Design Firms, an online directory, found that 28 percent of respondents don’t have a website. It turned out that limited resources are a challenge when building and maintaining websites. Almost half (46 percent) of those who run websites have in-house staff doing web management, and 32 percent use DIY website builders to create a simple website. Only about a third (34 percent) work with an agency.
The latest polls showed possible progress compared to a 2019 opinion poll of 529 small businesses from Visual Objects, a website design directory that found 40 percent of small businesses chose not to invest in a website.
Of those with no websites, 28 percent said a website is irrelevant to the needs of your business. Visual objects said these companies tend to use their personal networks and traditional marketing strategies like email and PR to generate business. Other reasons for not having a website were the cost, which was cited by 23 percent, and the ability to use social media for web presence, 13 percent.
That Visual objects Survey also found that around half of those with websites (52 percent) do in-house maintenance. The three biggest challenges were identified as low website traffic, cited by 19 percent; Competition, 19 percent; and lack of time / knowledge to maintain the site, 15 percent.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Are there legitimate reasons for smaller retailers not to have a website? What advice would you give to overcoming common barriers to building and maintaining a website?
Brain trust
“Today’s websites are like business cards, every business needs one.”
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