Small Business Dependence on the Internet An ACNielsen survey of small business owners or decision makers who made a business purchase on eBay within the past 12 months, and general
small business executives, about their growth plans and Internet usage, found that nearly 90% of the eBay group uses the Internet to research business purchases, and 80% access industry expertise
online.
Comparing the eBay sample to the non-eBay users, the eBay purchasers are more likely to expect their business to grow, expect expansion of the number of offices/locations, and expect the
number of full-time employees to grow. Also, only 2% of the eBay group says the economic climate is the most important factor in making their company more competitive or successful, compared to 7% of
non-eBay executives.
US Small Business Attitude Toward Internet 2004 (% respondents)
| General Small Business | eBay Small Business | Non-eBaySmall Business |
|
| Helped business grow/expand | 58% | 82% | 57% |
| Helped business become more profitable | 51 | 79 | 49 |
| Helped business reduce costs | 49 | 78 | 45 |
| Business relies on Internet to survive | 15 | 31 | 14 |
| Internet has no impact on business | 33 | 15 | 34 |
Source: ACNielsen, March
2004
The biggest challenges for SMBs in the manufacturing and retail industries, are cutting costs, streamlining business processes and managing market conditions. According to the ACNielsen
study, eBay users are using the Internet to help with precisely those sorts of challenges.
Major Business Related Challenges (% respondents)
| Manufacturing | Retail |
| Need to lower costs | 54% | 47% |
| Need to improve efficiency | 51 | 37 |
| Manage changing competitive and market conditions | 43 | 34 |
| Conform to suppliers' demand to be online | 33 | 18 |
| Lack of real-time information | 15 | 18 |
| Difficult to forecast and budget | 12 | 26 |
Source: Yankee Group March, 2004
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