Major Developments in Online Sales and Marketing Efforts Drive SMBs

US

Yankee Group: The market strategies and forecast for the evolving SMB and mid-market enterprise web-hosting market. The web-hosting industry continues to expand rapidly—more than 60% of the SMB and mid-market enterprises with internet services have a direct web presence. This dynamic growth for web site adoption is attributed to the increasing expectation of SMB and mid-market enterprises’ customers for web-hosting services that create a compelling, reliable and credible online experience. Across market divisions, medium-sized businesses had the highest adoption rate of web-hosting services with almost 87% penetration rate, while organizations with 2 to 99 employees experienced a more than 10% increase in adoption. Very small businesses of 2 to 19 employees also increased their adoption of web-hosting services, but the growth of their adoption and management rate relied heavily on outsourcing to hosting companies.

The web-hosting market is poised for measurable growth, and as more small and mid-market companies seek hosting services for cost-effective generation of sales leads, pricing will remain as the number-one selection criterion for choosing a partner. To capitalize on this market and gain competitive leadership, Yankee Group recommends that web-hosting companies invest in branding their company as a cost-effective provider of premium services for the SMB market.

Full adoption of web hosting among SMBs and mid-market enterprises is imminent as companies become more reliant on hosting services for strengthening business transactions and processes in sales and marketing. Because the days of 'one size fits all' focus are over, the need for customized, high-value web-hosting services is the winning solution for SMBs seeking to maximize ROI and for vendors looking to obtain greater differentiation and market leadership.

Major Developments in Online Sales and Marketing Efforts Drive SMBs Publ 20050606