Budget boost for e-commerce investment
E-commerce investment is set to rise among a quarter of UK businesses as a direct result of government incentives laid down by chancellor Gordon Brown in this year's budget.
A survey by top 20 accountants Kingston Smith found that 22% of small to medium-sized businesses contacted said they would increase investment due to budget measures, such as the 100% tax relief on new technology.
Nearly a quarter of businesses also said they would speed up their introduction of e-commerce because of the pro-e-commerce budget, while 27% said they were encouraged to expand their use of online business-to-business trading.
Senior partner Michael Snyder said: ‘If these percentages are repeated across the spectrum that means a huge additional injection of investment by companies into e-commerce and technology in this year alone.’
Over half of companies surveyed, however, said they did not know when they expected their planned investments in e-commerce to become profitable.
‘Companies are clearly placing high expectations on the development of e-commerce and although they are still ‘flying blind’ in some respects there are signs in this survey that they are adopting a more logical and business-like approach,’ said Snyder.