Why don't NZ Businesses want a website?

Here is a great article by Julian Smith commenting on the results of a survey that revealed that 70% of New Zealand businesses that did not have a website had no intention of getting one!

And this a day after another survey had come out reporting that New Zealanders bought 2.75 billion dollars online this year - a figure that is expected to increase by 12-14% every year.

Why do so many Kiwi business owners not want to participate in the online economy?

Wednesday, August 03 2011 || Comment || BY Julian Smith

I try not to criticise Kiwi businesses. It’s hard enough to start and run a business in this environment without some ‘expert’ telling you what you should be doing better. And there is so much to celebrate about local business that outweighs a focus on than the negative.

But the business community has a problem I’m really struggling to get my head around. New Zealand is not even on the map when it comes to the massive economic opportunities offered by the internet and e-commerce.

It's a shocking truth – and I know it’s shocking because that’s the reaction I get every time I quote this statistic – that fewer than a third of all local businesses have a website. And less than 10% of those businesses use their site as an e-commerce portal.

Perhaps even more confronting is the fact that, of all the businesses not currently online, 70% don’t intend to get a website.

The question is, why do so many Kiwi business owners not want to participate in the online economy? When the information revolution is a force for economic transformation as powerful as the industrial revolution, why are we becoming a nation of latter day luddites?

As part of a developed economy in the early 21st century, I’m struggling to answer that question.

We know businesses with a web presence do better – in our latest MYOB Business Monitor special report we identified that over the last two years, between 5% and 9% more business with a website reported revenue growth, and between 8% and 17% reported increased pipeline work.

We also know that online businesses are significantly more confident. 54% of businesses with a website expect growth in the next 12 months, compared to 27% of those without.

Online is where the bulk of customers are. More than two thirds of all consumers say they go online to research a business before making a purchasing decision. Regardless of the business, if you are selling a product or a service and you want customers, they are more likely to look online first.

Cost is no longer a barrier to getting online as there are now many inexpensive options for building a website.

So there’s really no good excuse for a Kiwi business not to have a website and there’s every reason to do so – from business growth and revenue development to the far reaching potential for the New Zealand economy to become one of the most connected in the world – with all the development benefits that will bring.

With the World Cup coming up – and an international audience of 4 billion tuning in to all things Kiwi – there’s never been a better time to get online and make the world your market.


So if this article has caused you to reconsider - give me a call on 0274 777753
or email me: ron.giles@zeald.com