Although small and medium enterprises generate approximately £36 billion in online sales, only 2.4 percent of sales were generated online for companies with less than 50 employees. Larger companies, with over 250 employees gained 18.7 percent of their sales with online marketing. The study carried out by the Centre for Economic and Business Research revealed that larger companies generated a total of £394 billion in online sales.

An associated study carried out by YouGov revealed that almost half of the 500 companies surveyed didn’t have any online income, while over a third of the participants in the survey revealed that they had no investment in tools for online marketing, including email marketing, search engine optimisation or social media.

A considerable number of small businesses are not maximising potential for online sales or increasing their marketing efforts, as they don’t believe that their company is established enough to justify the investment. As many consumers prefer to trade online, an Internet presence can boost sales and increase visibility. HM Revenue & Customs are urging customers to file online, whether you are an individual filing your self assessment return or a large company submitting PAYE forms.

An online presence can maximise resources of a business, increasing sales and the marketing with very little expense. Other aspects of running your business online are cost effective, including online accounting. A low cost online accountancy will enable you to file and submit documents in real time, maintaining an accurate forecast of your business finance.

Want to learn more?

Subscribe to our newsletter to get accounting tips like this right to your inbox

About The Author

Gary Fields

Content Writer working alongside our expert accountants to bring you the latest Tax and Accounting news.

More posts by this author