It looks like small businesses in Britain plan to invest heavily in the web over the next couple of years and outdated websites could just be the cause of this.
In some very interesting research from a Santander survey this week, it has been shown that British SMEs plan to collectively spend a massive £53bn on their digital presence over the next two years.
According to the survey undertaken by Santander Corporate & Commercial, small businesses in Britain have an invested an average of £33,212 into digital over the past year. This digital investment looks set to increase by an additional £28,224 over the next two years.
As would be expected, the financial services and IT sectors are the big spenders when it comes to digital, with financial services companies spending an average of £49,500 over the past year and IT companies spending an average of £46,429.
Just exactly where the money will be spent should not come as a surprise. While the smartphone continues to dominate, it is still the website that rules. Mobile apps on the other other-hand are hardly getting a look in. Just over half (54%) of firms investing in digital capabilities are looking to develop their websites, compared to just 16% who are launching digital apps.
By no means does this mean that mobile should be forgotten about, in fact it should be the exact opposite.
This increased investment in the web can more than likely be attributed to small businesses standing up and taking notice of Google favouring mobile. Because of this they will be realising the need for websites that are functional on mobile devices, something that was echoed by Santander.
Upon releasing the results of the survey, Stephen Dury, Managing Director of SME markets & business development at Santander Corporate & Commercial had to say, ‘‘Investment in digital capabilities can significantly enhance business growth opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses. Just having a functional website can have a dramatic impact on a firm’s visibility and connectivity with customers and other stakeholders.”
He continued with “while it is great to see that many firms are focused on this, the concern is that a significant number are still failing to invest effectively and are therefore missing out on these opportunities.’’
If your website isn’t “mobile friendly” and you want to do something about it, get in touch and we will be happy to help.
