SmallBusinessNewz

A person might suppose that, even online, businesses with brick and mortar locations would do better than those without; a physical store can remind people to visit a website, after all.  But new Hitwise stats indicate that online-only businesses have done a good job of keeping up with their competitors.

Heather Dougherty looked at the top 100 U.S. retail sites.  Brick and mortar chains won a market share of about 2.02 percent on December 10th, while online-only companies came in with 1.19 percent of the pie.

Then, to weigh another aspect of the situation, she reported, "[T]he Web-only retailers have experienced year-over-year increases in daily visits, particularly on Thanksgiving and Black Friday.  In the weeks leading up to and following the Thanksgiving holiday, the web-only retailers had 15 days of YoY increases, while the brick & mortar players had only 2 out of the 20."

So small businesses that can't afford (or choose not to have) physical locations shouldn't feel that they're missing out on a lot.  Small businesses that have physical locations yet have been put in a tough spot by the recession might even consider whether giving up the store would be so horrible.

Also, anyone interested in long-term success might want to know that Dougherty found, "The Young Cosmopolitans segment emerged as the segment that most preferred the online-only retailers, which is not surprising considering they tend to be a more tech-forward, early adopter crowd online."

Keep up your website whatever your situation, then, to stay in touch with the next generation of big consumers.