BackOffline small and medium businesses see drop in revenue: report
SMBs, which lack digital footprint, are losing out on customer engagement, says Google-Deloitte Touche report
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New Delhi: Indian small and medium businesses (SMBs), which do not have a digital footprint, are seeing a drop in revenue year-on-year as they lose out on customer engagement, said a new report by Google Inc. and Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Pvt. Ltd.
The report, which is based on a national survey of 500 businesses, found that the annual revenue for SMBs that are offline is witnessing an annual decrease in revenue by 8% on an average. In contrast, those which are using advanced digital technologies including big data analytics and cloud computing are seeing 19% revenue increase annually.
One-third of Indian SMBs operate totally offline, with no devices and have no online presence.
According to the report, 36% of the SMBs are offline, 31% have basic digital engagement which entails having a social media presence, access to broadband and digital presence through online advertisement or listing, while 22% have intermediate digital engagement including owning a website and presence on e-commerce platform. Only 10% SMBs are using advanced digital technologies.
Compared with offline SMBs, those with higher digital engagement are more likely to increase employment by up to 84%, increase access to international markets by up to 65%, and likely to offer new products up to 4.5 times, the report found.
Google has been trying to tap the India market for SMBs in the past two years since it announced its offering Google for Work, which entails services like Gmail,. Google drive and Google docs among others, for ₹ 1,500 per person per year.
In May, Google said it plans to get 20 million Indian SMBs on the Internet by creating an online presence for them on Google search and maps from fewer than 3 million at present.
The major challenges that make it harder for SMBs to come online include lack of digital infrastructure and the cost it entails.
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