Small Businesses Not Wavering in Their Overall Happiness
Vistaprint Survey Shows Small Business Owners Still Happy Running Their Business
(firmenpresse) - VENLO, THE NETHERLANDS -- (Marketwire) -- 10/20/11 -- Vistaprint N.V. (NASDAQ: VPRT), a leading online provider of professional marketing products and services to micro businesses and the home, today announced the results of its recent "Small Business Happiness Index," a quarterly survey designed to track the pulse of small, . Results indicated that 77% of micro business owners are still happy or extremely happy in running their own business, holding steady from
The index gauges sentiment of micro business owners and examines their day-to-day activities. Among the topics covered by the survey were optimism with regard to their local economy, use of mobile technology and social media activity.
"We're pleased to see that the micro business community remains positive as economic uncertainty surrounds their businesses. It's remarkable how this unique group has responded to difficult situations and continues to succeed," said Don LeBlanc, chief marketing officer for Vistaprint's North American Business Unit. "They're also adopting new marketing methods and technology to help their businesses."
Survey results were taken from over 1,000 U.S. based micro businesses, which are defined as businesses with between 1-10 employees. The most positive finding was that as a group, happiness among micro business owners remains high; however, it is worth noting that 44% of respondents report they are working more hours for their business this year than they were at the same time last year. Additional work time also seems to be coming from working weekends; 65% are working every weekend or every other weekend.
"From a financial standpoint, we found the majority (68%) of micro business owners were on track to generate or exceed revenue, likely because 50% have more customers today than they had last year," LeBlanc continued. "But that number is down slightly from last quarter, by 3% Hard work, however, is on the rise, as 50% indicated they were not planning to take a vacation this past summer, while even more said they are working on weekends and additional hours. The true commitment that these businesses have to succeeding is evident."
While business owners remain happy running their businesses, the majority of respondents noted they are not optimistic about the national and local economies. For example, 67% do not feel that their local economy is headed in the right direction and a further 76% do not feel the national economy is on the right track.
Looking at the use of technology, the majority of micro business owners are using either a desktop computer (53%) or laptop computer (44%). In addition to computers, 57% of respondents use a smartphone to help run their business. Of smartphone users, Android was the preferred platform of almost 43%. The iPhone ranked second with 31% of users.
Social media remains a popular marketing tool for many micro business owners, though there are still a high number not yet taking advantage of this marketing channel. This quarter's index found that 38% of micro business owners are not using social media for business purposes, up 3% from last quarter's survey. Other social media trends discovered include:
Facebook remains the most popular forms of social networking, with 48% integrated within marketing efforts. LinkedIn was a distant second with just under 7%.
Over 67% of micro business owners place no social networking contact information on their business card and other marketing materials.
Vistaprint conducts regular surveys with its micro business customer base, which are very small businesses in the United States with between 1-10 employees that primarily work out of their homes and generate less than $100,000 annually in revenues. This online survey was conducted from July 24 to July 31 with over 1,000 total respondents and a margin of error of plus or minus 5% at the 95% confidence level. For more survey results .
While the Small Business Happiness Index offers insight about the sentiments of micro businesses generally, it does not indicate or represent changes in Vistaprint's business results for any period.
Vistaprint N.V. (NASDAQ: VPRT) empowers more than 11 million micro businesses and consumers annually with affordable, professional options to make an impression. With a unique business model supported by proprietary technologies, high-volume production facilities, and direct marketing expertise, Vistaprint offers a wide variety of products and services that micro businesses can use to expand their business. A global company, Vistaprint employs over 2,800 people, operates 25 localized websites globally and ships to more than 130 countries around the world. Vistaprint's broad range of products and services are easy to access online, 24 hours a day at .
Vistaprint and the Vistaprint logo are trademarks of Vistaprint N.V. or its subsidiaries. All other brand and product names appearing on this announcement may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
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Datum: 20.10.2011 - 06:55 Uhr
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