UK businesses without a website are losing a lot of money

There are almost two million small and medium-sized businesses in the UK that don’t own a website, and combined they’re losing £343 billion every year.

This is according to new research by Approved Index, which claims SMEs without websites (a total of 1.98 million of them) are missing out on £173,769 per business, per year.

Smaller businesses would benefit the most from introducing a website, the research claims, a total of £106 billion per year, to be exact.

The biggest losers are those operating in the retail, transport and the food industry. There are more than 330,000 SMEs without a website, and they’re missing out on an additional turnover of £150 billion. Medium-sized businesses could earn £16.7 million per business, per year.

"Today’s consumers are more savvy than ever before because they have so much information at their disposal to aid almost every purchasing decision and this research often starts by heading to a brand’s website," comments Cameron Blair from Approved Index.

"Whether a business is online or offline, the majority of active customers will turn to the web first to help them find relevant companies, and reports have shown that consumers are far more trusting of brands with a quality website. Our findings prove that businesses who continue to ignore the importance of a website run the risk of losing millions of pounds to competitors."

The full report, with details on different industries, can be found on this link.

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