Online sales boom offers great opportunities for small businesses

Online sales boom offers great opportunities for small businesses

We seem to be constantly hearing about how the credit crunch is hitting the High Street and how shops are seeing dramatic falls in sales, but the boom in online shopping hasn't really hit the headlines.

Figures from the IMRG reveal that, despite the credit crunch, UK shoppers spent over £26.5 billion online in the first six months of 2008 - a 38% increase on the £19.2 billion recorded for the first half of 2007.

The online boom means that 17p in every pound spent is now spent online, and it's predicted that up to half of all shopping will be done online by 2014.

And the good news for small businesses is that smaller players with the right strategies are benefiting from this shift.

According to David Smith of IMRG, 'It is often the smaller retailers with niche products or with interesting retail propositions that seem to be having success. There will be a lot of opportunities for smaller players to profit if they can manage their start-up costs, get their supply chains right and work closely with their customers.'

So it seems that online opportunities abound for small businesses! :)