SMEs 'very poor' at online trading

Date: 19th September 2008

Smaller businesses in the UK have described themselves as "very poor" when it comes to online trading.

As part of an investigation conducted by growth consultancy SuccessTrack, 89 per cent of business start-up respondents rate their e-commerce skills as "very poor to average".

Out of over 200 participants, little over ten per cent described their online marketing techniques as "good to very good".

Jonathan Jay, SuccessTrack founder, said: "Getting those early sales can be tough for the new starter in business.

"But there are plenty of examples of highly successful new firms trading online or driving offline sales through internet promotions and marketing."

Mr Jay added that, reassuringly, the majority of respondents in the research were aware of their lack of knowledge and were eager to do something about.

Commenting on founding a successful business, Mr Jay said that the way to succeed was to do "everything one per cent better than your competition."

Earlier this month, it was revealed that 80 per cent of small businesses expected to experience growth during the next year.