Why a small business needs to be online

SMALL BUSINESS MARKETING Why your small business needs to be online 7 billion people live on Earth. 313,234,707 of them live in the United States. 78.3% of U.S. residents use the internet. 58% of Americans have 58% researched a product or service online. Why people buy online: $5 FREE Low prices Convenient shopping Easy to compare Free shipping 38% 35.1% 33.1% 31.5% Time saving Easy to buy Range of products 17.4% 30.8% 29.2% Growing numbers of people buy online: U.S. e-commerce $228 sales in 2002: 72 billion U.S. dollars U.S e-commerce sales in 2010: $72 228 billion U.S. dollars 2002 2010 These web surfers are your customers. In the past they could find your business with print ads, Yellow Pages, the radio, TV, etc. Ads Today businesses sell using the internet. Top 3 ways customers find U.S. small businesses: 1. Word-of-mouth 2. Internet 3. Search engines Top 3 marketing tactics of U.S. small businesses: 1. 84% of respondents of one survey said that they had a company website 2. 44% used social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) 35% used mass email 20 40 60 80 100 vWorkApp Sources: http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats14.htm#north http://pewinternet.org/topics/Decision-Making.aspx http://www.statista.com/topics/871/online-shopping/ http://th.nielsen.com/site/documents/GlobalOnlineShoppingReportFeb08.pdf http://www.emarketer.com/%28X%281%295%2814xbj255dopqzi55rh50h355%29%29/Article.aspx?R=1008302&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1 vworkapp.com USD in billions 3.