Almost 30% of small business in the U.S. are projecting that their eCommerce sales will increase over the next 12 to 24 months, according to the latest Small Business Research Board (SBRB) study released recently.

    Comprehensive study co-sponsored by Business Today Magazine reveals many small businesses subject to technology gap, reporting that more than 42% do not have websites and another 25% opting not to sell products nor services on the sites they own. The SBRB / Business Today Study also demonstrated a great divide exists between businesses which have explored the Internet and those that have not embraced the media.

    Owners and managers of over 550 small businesses representing numerous industries responded to the nationwide SBRB poll co-sponsored by Business Today Magazine. While nearly 97% of the respondents said they expect revenue generated from web-based sales to stay the same or increase during the next one to two years, 29.2% of those said they expect revenue to increase. The poll indicated that 67.5% of the respondents believe their Internet sales will remain the same during this same period and 3.3% of the respondents predict that their Internet sales will decrease.

    Gregg M. Steinberg, President of Business Today said that the importance of this study is extended beyond the predicting revenue trends. According to him, “The information clearly illustrates that there are many companies which are either not availing themselves of the opportunities to sell products and services on the web and thus losing the opportunity to generate additional revenue. “

    42.7% of the respondents indicated their firms do not have websites, while the majority of firms (47.3%) had one web site; in this time 7% of the business had between two and five websites, a small amount of firms (2.1%) had six to ten websites, while 9% had more than 10 sites.

     Steinberg also said that: “While the web may not be suitable for every business, there are many companies which have integrated eCommerce capabilities into their Internet sites are generating sales -- and expecting the web to continue growing as an important revenue source.” Backing out those which do not have websites and thus including only those business with websites, 43.9% of that group do not sell products or services. The vast majority of 44.8% have one site in which they conduct eCommerce while 8.9% said they have two to five sites in which they conduct eCommerce.

    The SBRB / Business Today Small Business eCommerce Study is believed to be among the most comprehensive efforts recently undertaken to understand eCommerce and the reality of its impact on small businesses. The resulting information thus provides both a snapshot on current attitudes and realizations among small business owners as well as establishes benchmarks.

    Similarly, 67.8% of the total respondents said they don’t sell any products nor services on the web. Of the remaining group, 25.7% said they sell products on one of their sites, 5.1% said they generate revenue from two to five sites, .4% from six to ten sites and 1% from more than ten sites.