Small Firms Buying More on Web

Consumers aren’t the only ones doing their shopping on the Net. Online spending by U.S. small businesses grew more than 1,000% last year to top $25 billion, according to a new survey.

About 2.8 million small businesses are doing some buying over the Web, a number that is expected to grow substantially and drive their online purchasing to $118 billion by 2001, according to Access Markets International-Partners Inc., a New York consulting firm focusing on small-business Internet trends.

The AMI survey also found that small businesses love online auctions. An estimated 670,000 small companies have already participated in these online exchanges, and an estimated 1 million plan to head to auction sites this year. AMI also projects that 1.3 million small businesses will flock to buyer aggregation sites in 2000, where they can pool their purchasing power with other small firms to get better deals on goods and services.

Paradoxically, though small-business owners are buying things online in record numbers--often from big companies--the survey found they are skeptical when it comes to selling their own products.

Six out of 10 said they don’t think the Web is a good venue to sell their wares, and they feel overwhelmed by the high costs and technological challenges required to establish a solid online presence.

For more information on the AMI survey, check out the AMI Web site at https://www.ami-usa.com.