There is an increase in the number of Australian businesses that are now online. MYOB conducted a research which has revealed that businesses now online have risen from 35 per cent to 39 per cent last November. Another 22 per cent are planning to create their website in the next 12 months.

Compared to the 22 per cent that do not have a website, almost a third of 1000 respondents say that there is increased revenue with being online.

“Today consumers look online first when making buying decisions,” said Tim Reed, MYOB CEO.

“If your business can't be found via a search engine, it's as if you don't exist,” he added.

Western Australia online businesses lead at 49 per cent while NSW and Victoria are at 41 and 40 per cent, respectively.

However, even with these results, people are still not convinced at using the internet for their advantage. This has been revealed as 57 per cent of businesses do not use the internet to promote and sell products. 24 percent do not have any plans of making a website while the remaining do not believe in the usefulness of the internet.

“While only 26 per cent of business owners believe their competitors are ahead of them when it comes to the online economy, I'm concerned for Australia's future international competitiveness if business owners don't do more to embrace the online economy,” Mr. Reed said.

“It's important Aussie business owners take action now to make sure they don't lose market share to global competitors,” Mr. Reed added.

Having the right skills and knowledge are necessary to taking the first step in getting businesses online.

About one in three businesses believe that they are lagged when it comes to using the internet for business, 35% think they are not using the internet enough for marketing purposes, and the remaining 31% say they don’t use online search engines to market their business.

Source: Herald Sun »


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