UK firms continue to lag behind consumers when it comes to online sales, according to a new report.
The survey, published by PayPoint, suggests that while 70 per cent of Brits have made a purchase online, as many as 27 per cent of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) see that e-retail is important, but have still not yet made the move online.
The internet provides small firms with customer reach that they could not possibly hope to achieve using solely offline methods. As the world moves increasingly online, these technologies will become exponentially more important to the survival of small businesses.
But small business owners are apparently still put off by some of the risks associated with online retail. A third of small business owners do not want to trade online because of the risk of internet fraud, while a further 57 per cent are simply worried that customers would not be able to find them.
As previously reported, Google has recently launched a campaign to get 100,000 more UK businesses online by the end of the year. The Getting British Businesses Online campaign offers a free website and domain name to small firms.
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