Online Business Statistics 2021

Is a simple business website enough to get potential customers to convert? Making sure your customers completely check out, make it to your brick-and-mortar store, or both will require some careful, data-driven decisions for your business website.

Here are some internet business statistics that can help you be deliberate and well-guided in optimizing your business's online presence:

1. Only 64% of small businesses have a website.

According to Clutch, only 64% of small businesses have a website. This leaves a surprisingly large number-- more than a third-- of small businesses presumably without a website. (Business Solution)

Long story short? Most potential customers, vendors, and partners will consult your business website while they try to decide whether or not to work with you. To win them over, you'll want to at least have a basic business website.

Setting up a business website might not be the easiest thing to do-- especially for the less tech-savvy small business owners out there. A crucial part of getting a business loan from many small business lenders is proving your legitimacy-- and applying for a business loan will often require you to provide your website's URL.

1. 26% of small businesses without websites cited cost as the main reason why they're not online.

Clutch also dug into why small businesses decide not to have a website in this day and age. Small businesses cited multiple motivations for not having a website, like irrelevance to industry or relying on social media pages.

If you can't find the working capital to cover the upfront costs of a business website, consider accessing a small loan through forms of short-term financing such as invoice discounting or revenue-based financing. (WpBeginner)

1. But 28% of small businesses with websites spent less than $500 setting theirs up.

Nonetheless, 28% businesses that do have their websites set up said that developing their site cost them less than $500. [6] Of course, $500 isn't a negligible amount-- especially on a small business budget. But, as a one-off cost to set your business up in the digital age, a sum of less than $500 can seem like small change for the business that setting up a website will bring. There are countless affordable ways to build your small business website, so don't let the potential costs of building a website keep your business offline. (Statista)

1. 51% of small businesses with websites used in-house staff to maintain their site.

Top Digital found that a majority-- 51%-- of small businesses with websites used in-house staff to maintain their website. 40% outsourced to a freelancer or consultant and 31% outsourced to a web design agency. (Statista.)

Meanwhile, 38% of small businesses took matters into their own hands with a DIY website builder. [7]

These online business statistics don't offer any insight into how small businesses tend to combine these website maintenance resources, they do suggest that many small businesses are turning to multiple options for building and maintaining their sites.

1. 69.57% is the average documented online shopping cart abandonment rate.

Ecommerce abandonment statistics from 41 studies that the Baymard Institute performed showed that the average cart abandonment rate is 69.57%. That said, 55% of ecommerce that were ready to buy dropped off because the extra costs were too high, and 34% dropped off because the business site wanted them to create an account. (Shopify).