Market conditions & changing technology is impacting small and medium business sales. According to most industry analysts small and medium businesses today are doing it tough. Just to give you a snapshot of the importance of this sector. There are 2.1 Million small businesses actively trading in Australia, that’s almost 96% of all businesses.
Did you know small and medium business in Australia account for a staggering 99.7% of all businesses. They also account for 70% of all private sector employment. Yet this is a sector of our economy that gets very little attention from both state and federal governments. Attention on big business, only .3% of all businesses and only 30% of all employment is simply overweight in this country.
I am sure we in Australia is not alone here and this is probably a global phenomenon. A survey conducted by Nexgroup over the last two years have given on the following
Market conditions are tough and sales are not delivering to owners expectations.
This has been so in the last 3 years at least. An extremely long federal election campaign in 2013 did not help business. With business and consumers taking a cautious approach.
Changing Technology related drivers operating in their industry impacting on business.
The online world and its impact is hurting business. Small business has to now compete not with its local counterparts but with large global and Australian business that deliver the same products and services online.
Saavy businesses, particularly the larger ones are using online tools such as search engine optimisation, social media and online marketing to reach customers. Small business who often struggle to keep up with technology due to time and resources are often left behind and by the time they get to parity it is a bit too late.
There is only so much costs that you can cut, without impacting the business any further.
Businesses facing lower sales revenue and margins often subject to cutting cost to the bone. Most small businesses are already extremely lean and cutting any further has a long term impact of the business as a whole.
Competition is high and customers always have several options.
Customers today are highly informed. 50% of all Google searches are done on a mobile device, most websites of small businesses often don’t cater to mobile devices which is a sure way of losing the attention of 50% of buyers.
According to Google there are nearly 80Million searches in Australia each day. Most small businesses unfortunately don’t feature in these searches as they invariable don’t come up in the first or at least the second page of Google. Search engine optimisation (SEO) has been expensive and with so many unscrupulous touts hawking SEO, it has been difficult to find a company small business can depend on.
With customers better informed they know what they want and what price they are willing to pay, purchases are either done online. Most small businesses again struggle to maintain websites that are attractive and user friendly enough for these impatient and exacting customers. Very few businesses have the time and money continually update the website, unfortunately it is now become our new shop front and keep your website up to date is as important as keeping a physical shop front cleaned and organised for customers on a daily basis. Also ecommerce and selling online have been traditionally expensive although they are far less expensive today.
Advertising & Marketing costs are high, often unaffordable and more so results cannot be measured accurately.
Advertising is expensive, most businesses cant afford a professional marketing & advertising agent however big business have access to these resources and small business need to be equipped to handle these challenges.
Most mail shots are expensive to do more importantly success rates are very low due to people again having not too much patience with junk mail despite the expense and effort of the exercise.
Small businesses find radio, TV and any traditional media expensive to sell their wares.
Social Media is an excellent avenue most businesses have explored, but don’t seem to deliver the results promised. Consistent strategy and action is required here and time and execution are a problem. Big business often have more resources to do it well.
Customer retention is tough and unpredictable.
Keeping customers engaged and loyal is increasing tough again for most of the reasons discussed above.
Small business however need to keep their focus in retaining and growing customers.
All this leads to a lot of pressure for business owners and their teams.
Businesses are mostly finding the psychological impact on them and their families as a result of business pressure very high.
We believe businesses can change this paradigm of “doing it tough”. That’s why we built NetStripes. It has all the required digital marketing strategies that can make a business s grow. NetStripes starts with a Perfectly Engineered website, Strategic Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Strategic email marketing so it is not spam and Social Media marketing a vital tool in a business armour if done properly.
Any questions?
Feel free to talk to one of our digital strategists today. We are more than happy to help! Contact us now.
