Marketing Charts reports that while consumers prefer to use the Internet to find information about companies, only 44% of small business have a website. Half of the consumers surveyed said search engines were the first place they turned to for information about local businesses and only 24% chose the Yellow Pages.
Furthermore, the trend of consumers moving to electronic sources for information is accelerating, as this chart from the Marketing Charts article reveals:
Our experience in the apparel, accessories and shoe markets is that far fewer than 44% of retailers have websites. Among stores that sell missy and plus sizes to older women, a rough estimate is less than 5% of retailers have websites. With consumers turning to the Internet for information about stores, an offline retailer can only attract new customers through random foot traffic and word of mouth.
See the article at Marketing Charts for all of the numbers.
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