 Despite a bumper year
for internet retailers, more than three-quarters of the UK's
small businesses are still failing to take advantage of a
widening online customer base, new research shows.
A study by BT and the Institute of Directors (IoD) found
that just 24 per cent of companies provide a website through
which their customers can buy products.
The report shows that the other 76 per cent of small firms
failed to claim a portion of the £50bn that was spent
via the web in 2005.
Last year saw the online retail market grow in prestige,
with sales booming in the run-up to Christmas. As the high
streets suffered from a dip in consumer spending in the second
half of 2005, e-shop sales never fell below their targets
and posted record growth rates.
BT said that small businesses with a transactional website
saw their customer base increase by 81 per cent last year,
while more than half claimed they reached more international
buyers through the internet.
"Many smaller businesses have a website, but haven't
seen the potential for making money from it," said Mick
Hegarty, general manager of Broadband and VoIP at BT Business.
"They also think making it transactional could be costly
or time-consuming, but that’s just not the case anymore.
There is a wide range of cost-effective options available
that fit every budget.
"Moving away from just having an online brochure to
selling direct over the internet opens up a great new opportunity
to increase sales."
Going online is not as scary as you think, the process
is very easy:
1. Register you www.name
2. Buy hosting (space on the web)
3. Build your website, either by yourself or by a website design company
4. Advertise your site and start trading
5. Start counting the profits!
So what are you waiting for! For more information on registering
a domain, buying
hosting and advertising click
on the links or visit www.telivo.com today.
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St Valentine's
Day is a holiday dedicated to lovers. It probably derives
from the ancient Roman feast of Lupercalis (February 15th).
Originally a festival for shepherds, it was celebrated in
honour of Faunus (in Roman mythology, the grandson of the
god Saturn). Its primary purpose was to secure fertility
for the fields, the flocks, and the shepherds themselves.
The festival gradually became associated with the feast day
(February 14th) of two Roman martyrs, both named St Valentine,
who lived in the 3rd century, but about whom nothing specific
is known. St Valentine has traditionally been regarded as
the patron saint of lovers. An early reference is found in
the works of Chaucer (one of the greatest English poets,
whose masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, was one of the most
important influences on the development of English literature),
who states that birds pair on St Valentine’s Day. The
practice of calling oneself a “Valentine” and
asking one’s beloved to be the same, is referred to
in the Paston Letters, the largest surviving collection of
15th-century English correspondence written by the Paston
family and their neighbours in Norfolk.