magnanimity corby: Small SME internet presence a concern: Survey

Half of all small to medium-sized Kiwi businesses do not have a website, a survey on digital readiness shows.

The survey, by directory firm Yellow and Colmar Brunton, shows that despite high numbers of customers using the internet for consumer information, only half the businesses surveyed had a presence on the web.

One in five SMEs said they did not use any online marketing tool.

Yellow spokesman Evan Lawrey said the low uptake of websites and online marketing was a major concern.

About 57 per cent of New Zealanders searched the web for businesses and services, and 17 per cent used the internet exclusively.

"If half of all small to medium businesses aren't online, they're missing a huge opportunity," he said.

The survey showed that many regional businesses were more technology-minded than their city counterparts.

Sixty-five per cent of Southland SMEs used social media, compared with 40 per cent in Auckland and 30 per cent in Christchurch.

More than half of Hawke's Bay firms used email marketing, compared with 32 per cent in Wellington and Auckland.

Otago and Tasman were digitally savvy, with 92 and 93 per cent of SMEs respectively having at least one online tool, compared with a national average of 81 per cent.

The lowest-ranking region was Northland, with 71 per cent of businesses having an online presence.

Tenby Powell, co-founder of the New Zealand SME Business Network, said businesses that did not use the internet or social media were "trying to live in yesterday's paradigm".

"New Zealanders think of themselves as being early adopters, and I think in the main that's probably true," he said.

"The problem we've got now is that Yellow has put some science in the survey and we've discovered we may not be the early adopters in this particular field, which is critically important to business growth and communication, that we thought we may have been."

New Zealand had to get up the value chain, and it could do that only by gaining scale and being more innovative and sophisticated, which were proven drivers of advanced economies.

"If only 50 per cent of SMEs have a website - and we are by definition talking about the medium and not the small - then we have a problem," he said.

However, there was some good news from those that had embraced the digital age.

Nearly 30 per cent of the SMEs that had a website planned to invest in the mobile sphere by ensuring their website could handle smartphones, by building an application or using text messages to communicate with their customers.

Nearly 40 per cent planned to start using search engine marketing, and 31 per cent planned to invest in video.

"These businesses are realising that it's important to keep adding layers to their web," Lawrey said.

- ? Fairfax NZ News