A new survey from NetElixir has been released that looked at how small businesses are generating online sales. The survey asked 500 different businesses a variety of questions about their eCommerce experience, and has generated some interesting data.
The results found that 60.2% of all these small to mid-sized businesses that sell products online make at least half of their online sales using only Amazon, Jet and/or eBay. 12.3% of that group reported that 100% of their sales comes from these sources.
While these online eCommerce giants take a cut of the overall profits, and often demand lower prices, it is still worth it for most companies. 52% of those in the survey said that they use Amazon because they are able to drive increased sales volume. Another 32.6% said that the brand exposure was their primary reason.
Of course, there are downsides to using Amazon and other large online sites like this. 45% of the businesses reported that they didn’t like the lower margins that they had to endure using these sites, and 29% don’t like that they don’t ‘own’ the end customer.
