In the highly-connected digital age of today, businesses need to build a strong online presence off of their physical one to take advantage of opportunities that will sustain their growth. This is a conclusion drawn from a recent study of 1,485 Canadian businesses with an online presence and having national or international activities.
Although almost any presence online is helpful, Canada’s bank for entrepreneurs BDC reports 60% of Canadian Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) aren’t selling or taking orders online. The bank stresses that this majority is missing serious opportunities for growth.
The benefits gained from building market expansion strategies on top of online strategies are measurable, with the study estimating that online businesses are about three times more likely to export, while also having higher revenues and direct communication with customers.
Having a solid plan is key however, yet surveyed SMEs indicating that they face a range of challenges in having an online presence that includes hiring and retaining talent (24%), having the right knowledge about Internet technologies (25%), and security and data protection (32%). In addition 15% said that the cost of an online store alone is their top challenge.
“Considering worldwide retail e-commerce sales are expected to double between 2018 and 2021, it is vital that Canadian business owners take their digital presence seriously,” said BDC’s Research and Chief Economist, Pierre Cléroux in a press statement. “A strong online presence should be at the heart of any business that wants to continue growing and remain competitive.”
BDC’s Philippe Desjardins says that before jumping into an online marketplace, any company should take the time to get their digital marketing strategy right. With an online strategy, a market expansion strategy can then be built on top of it. Hand-in-hand with this, the study identified six practices for expanding an online:
- Measure performance
- Invest in search engine marketing
- Improve visibility with search engine optimization
- Customize and personalize the website
- Never stop tweaking the website towards customer expectations
- Ensure the online expansion plan is the core of the company’s strategic plan
A free copy of the study is available to be downloaded.
