Legislation
Have your say: online barriers faced by SMEs
30/07/2010 07:32
Businesses have an opportunity to shape the future of trading online, and to describe any obstacles that apply specifically to small businesses.
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is seeking the views of businesses on the barriers faced by small and medium-sized firms online. Small businesses increasingly rely on services such as search engines, online market places and payment service providers as essential gateways to trading over the internet.
Following complaints to the OFT that certain practices of these large players can lead to barriers to entry or expansion, the OFT commissioned research on these interdependencies in the online environment.
While the overall findings were positive, the research recognised some of the difficulties that small businesses can encounter online, such as:
- some small businesses depend on particular providers and are sensitive to system changes or loss of service;
- the way that a platform responds to consumer complaints about a business can sometimes be disruptive to the business in question; and
- the levels of innovation and cost reductions that have taken place online have not always been matched in those aspects of the value chain that remain offline (such as supply of goods and delivery).
- Respond to the consultation on the OFT website
- 30 September 2010
Businesses have until 30 September to give their views.
Operative date