Whether motivated by fear of competition or the promise of future returns, thousands of small businesses have reached the same conclusion in recent years. New research by Roper Starch Worldwide offers some answers. To identify those differences, Roper polled 1,229 businesses with fewer than 100 employees. Accelerators embrace the Web in all its promise, seeing it as both the basis of new products and a tool for rapid growth. Administrators go online to save time and money, performing tasks such as payroll or ordering supplies.
Evangelists see the Web primarily as another medium for sales and marketing.
Integrators use it for networking with employees, customers, and other businesses. E-traditionalists dabble on the Web but haven't yet harnessed it to their advantage. The survey shows that a majority of small businesses are just dipping their toes into e-commerce. Despite the great interest in the Web and the high percentage of companies that are online, a lack of Web sophistication isn't terribly surprising, says Melissa Shore, who tracks small-business trends for Jupiter Communications. And while identifying customers by their use of the Internet may seem a logical step, marketing strategies are more often based on factors such as customer size or industry.