Survey of SME Ecommerce Dispels Dot-com Gloom.

Actinic bas announced the results of research into the UK SME ecommerce market. the survey of 424 randomly selected businesses with 1499 staff from the retail, manufacturing and wholesale sectors was conducted by pfa Research. Overall the findings show that despite the dot-com gloom, a significant proportion of Britain's small business owners are committed to the web as a sales channel. For example, 76% of those companies who have a web site but don't yet sell online, are planning to include the facility within the near future.

All statistics quoted in the report are proportions of the sample and not of the UWs total SME market. The highlights include:

* Plenty of room for growth, but 9% of the whole sample is already taking orders online (i.e. not using email as an order taking tool, but downloading actual credit card details).

* Of companies in the sample who have a web site but don't yet sell online, 76% are planning to include an ecommerce facility.

* 30% of SMEs with a web site stated that they have become more likely to sell online during the last six months. In particular, businesses of 1-9 employees have significantly shifted their attitudes positively towards selling online in the last half year.

* Expectations of ecommeree are being met -- 72% stated that they had met or exceeded expectations and 59 % of web stores are already profitable (71% of these became profitable within 6 months).

* The SME's biggest justification for setting up an ecommerce site is to increase sales and open up new markets.

* Key considerations for SMEs in selecting an ecommerce system are:

Retaining control over the set up and updating of their product catalogue Cost, i.e. low initial investment and rapid move into site profitability and ease of use

* The average (mean) investment for setting up an e-store is 2,400 [pounds sterling]. 41% of organisations have built their store themselves and 40% have had their store built by a web designer.

www.actinic.co.uk