• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Submissions
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Feb 26, 2021
  • Startup
    • Creating a Plan
    • Funding a Startup
    • Franchise Center
    • Getting Your Office Ready
    • Making Your Business Official
    • Marketing Your New Business
    • Personal Readiness
  • Run & Grow
    • Customer Service
    • Human Resources
    • Innovation
    • Legal
    • Operations
    • Risk Management
  • Leadership
    • Best Practices
    • Communication
    • Green Initiatives
    • Open Culture
    • Strategic Planning
    • People Skills
  • Sales & Marketing
    • Advertising and Lead Generation
    • Marketing Innovations
    • Marketing Plans
    • Online Marketing
    • Relationships
    • Sales Activities
  • Finance
    • Budgeting and Personal Finance
    • Payments and Collections
    • Tax and Accounting
    • Pricing Strategy
    • Working with Investors
    • Working with Lenders
  • Tech
    • eCommerce
    • Hardware
    • Software
    • Security
    • Tech Reviews
    • Telecom
  • Shop

SmallBizClub

Helping You Succeed

efile4biz banner
Home / Leadership / Strategic Planning / Small Business Survey Reveals Areas to Gain a Competitive Advantage
Small Business Survey Reveals Areas to Gain a Competitive Advantage

Small Business Survey Reveals Areas to Gain a Competitive Advantage

714 Views

Jul 17, 2018 By Susan Solovic

A recent survey of 1,794 small business owners revealed expected—and unexpected—results, some of which can help you find ways to better competitively position your business in the coming months and years.

The first finding that surprised me is that well over half the respondents were women: 57 percent. Only 39 percent said they were male and 4 percent declined to identify their gender. The respondents also reflect the generational evolution of small business owners. Baby Boomers only accounted for 24 percent of respondents. Gen-Xers accounted for more than half—54 percent—and Millennials came in at 18 percent. Millennials are beginning to enter the scene as Baby Boomers are bowing out.

We’ve been promoting the fact that current economic conditions are ripe for expansion and 23 percent of the survey said they want to open a new location. The same percentage noted e-commerce as a business objective.

Are you among these groups? If you aren’t, your competitors may be, and you could soon have a new “neighbor” or you may find yourself outflanked on the Internet. Think about it!

I was surprised to see that 43 percent said that they don’t offer mobile wallet payment options to their customers. This caught me off guard because earlier in the week, Apple CEO Tim Cook said active Apple Pay users more than doubled year over year with total transactions tripling over the same period. And, that’s only the growth of Apple Pay; there are plenty of other players in the game.

How can almost half of small business owners be sitting out this consumer movement?

Here’s what’s going to happen: Among consumers, mobile wallet payments are going to evolve from being a nice feature to being a required offering for businesses and if you haven’t established your business as mobile-wallet friendly, you may not be able to change your image quickly enough.

Don’t be left waving goodbye to the bandwagon as it rolls out of town.

Top business goals were not very surprising. Almost 90 percent said increasing sales is their key business goal over the next three years. Marketing performance improvement was cited by 32 percent and 29 percent said they wanted to improve their in-store customer experience.

The interesting thing about those three points is that if owners improve their marketing and customer experience, they will in turn increase sales.

One last statistic caught my eye: 66 percent said that other business owners were the resources they rely on most to run a better business.

I think that says a lot about how small business owners support each other and realize that they are most profitable as individual owners when they are strong as a group. Having vacant storefronts on Main Street, or empty commercial space across town is never a good thing.

Filed Under: Strategic Planning Tagged With: Competitors, ECommerce, Mobile

Source: Susan Solovic

Susan Solovic

Susan Solovic

Susan Wilson Solovic is an award-winning serial entrepreneur, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Amazon.com and USA Today bestselling author, and attorney. She was the CEO and co-founder of SBTV.com—small business television—a company she grew from its infancy to a million dollar plus entity. She appears regularly as a featured expert on Fox Business, Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, CNBC and can be seen currently as a small business expert on the AT&T Networking Exchange website. Susan is a member of the Board of Trustees of Columbia College and the Advisory Boards for the John Cook School of Entrepreneurship at Saint Louis University as well as the Fishman School of Entrepreneurship at Columbia College. 

Related Posts

  • the-best-ecommerce-platforms-for-startups6 Reasons to Use Magento (And Not Just Because it’s Free)
  • 3 Best Things to Sell Online to Make Money
  • 5 Goal-Crushing eCommerce Marketing Essentials for 2021

Primary Sidebar

Random

5 Tips To Enhance Personal Injury Compensation

Feb 26, 2021 By Peter MacCallister

How to Make Disabled Employees Feel Confident at Work

Feb 26, 2021 By Ed Smith

5 Essential Skills Every Sales Rep Should Have

Feb 26, 2021 By Devin Caldwell

does-your-customer-understand-your-differentiation-

Are You Really Differentiated?

Feb 26, 2021 By Dave Brock

5 Things You Can Do Right Now To Improve Your Mental Health

Feb 26, 2021 By Wagepoint

Footer

About Us

Small Biz Club is the premier destination for small business owners and entrepreneurs. To succeed in business, you have to constantly learn about new things, evaluate what you’re doing, and look for ways to improve—that’s what we’re here to help you do.

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2021 by Tarkenton Institute, Inc. All Rights Reserved | Terms | Privacy