Small businesses to invest more over next 12 months

Over 60 per cent of small businesses are planning to increase their spending over the next 12 months, according to research from eBay.

The ecommerce company found that two-thirds of small businesses in the UK are expected to ramp up investment through 2016-17, with 45 per cent placing more focus on marketing.

Growth

The research also showed how familiar small businesses are with certain types of marketing. 25 per cent said that they have little or no understanding of search engine optimisation techniques. However, over 70 per cent of survey respondents said that they are aware of how social media can help to drive growth.

The report also showed which areas small businesses are planning to focus on when increasing their spending, with 35 per cent planning to expand their products and 12 per cent focusing on providing better customer service.

Increasing staff wages was found to be the main focus of 11 per cent of respondents, whilst 10 per cent said that they will be focusing on providing training to boost the skills of their staff.

The research from eBay comes just as a study from the Centre for Economics and Business Research revealed that small businesses spend £24,000 on average on marketing every year.

Savvy

Commenting on the research, eBay UK Marketing Director Gareth Jones said: “At a time when many small businesses are expressing disappointment at the availability of funding, they are still savvy enough to know the return on investment that increasing marketing spend can have on their bottom line.”

He added that this is “good news” for the industry and economy.