SMEs using e-commerce and export more confident

SMEs that invest in e-commerce and exporting are more confident about the growth of their business than those that do not, according to findings from Capital Economics.

The SME Growth Tracker, which was commissioned by Enterprise Nation and Amazon UK and was based on a YouGov survey of over 1,000 SMEs in the UK, found that nearly half of British SMEs expect revenue growth to come via e-commerce over the next 12 months.

Confident

The report found that 45 per cent of British SMEs use e-commerce and expect 48 per cent of revenues to come from e-commerce over the next 12 months, up from 46 per cent over the past year.

SMEs that use e-commerce are more confident about job growth, expecting a growth of 0.9 per cent compared to 0.6 per cent for those that do not use it.

The report also showed that more businesses are using apps, with the use of own company mobile apps expected to increase to 20 per cent of SMEs over the next year.

Businesses are also more confident about exporting, expecting revenues to grow by 0.8 per cent in the next 12 months, up from 0.4 per cent over the past 12 months. SMEs that export also expect job growth of 1.1 per cent, compared to 0.5 per cent for those that do not export.

Growth

Discussing the report’s findings, Chief Project Economist, Mark Pragnell, said: “Most small businesses are saying they expect to grow revenue in the coming twelve months, particularly those in manufacturing, financial services and professionals services.”

He stated that companies that export and use e-commerce say that they are expecting faster revenue growth than those that do not sell online or only sell domestically.