SMB Sector Opportunities - Peeling Back the Onion

SMBs' Need for Capital/Financial Assistance, to Increase Marketing/Sales & to Develop Online Sales/Websites Varies by Industry Sector

Results from the most recent Census’ Small Business Pulse Survey are in, and as we’ve noted before, there are interesting differences by industry sector when it comes to SMBs' future need for capital/financial assistance, marketing/sales efforts & online sales.

Need for Capital/Financial Assistance. Four industries index higher on a future need for additional capital or financial assistance. These include the Mining sector (+6 percentage points higher than the average of 14% among SMBs across all industries), Accommodation and Food Services (+5 points), Educational services (+4 points), and Transportation and Warehousing (+3 points). Private and public lenders may want to focus their outbound efforts on SMBs in these sectors.

Need to Increase Marketing/Sales. There is wide disparity by industry when it comes to SMBs' future need to increase marketing or sales in the future. Among all industries, 28% report having this need in the next six months. However, the Education Services sector is significantly more likely to express this need (+16 points). Next up is Wholesale trade (+12 points), and then the Information sector (+8 points). SMBs in other industries that index higher than the average include Accommodation and Food Services (+5 points), Manufacturing (+5 points), and Professional, Scientific and Technical (+5 points). Companies that offer marketing or sales software may want to take note.

Need to Develop Online Sales or Websites. Across all industries, only about one in ten SMBs believe they will have a future need to develop online sales or websites. But when we peel back the onion, we observe pretty significant differences by sector. For example, twice as many SMBs in Educational Services (+10 points) express this future need. Wholesale Trade (+8 points), Retail Trade (+8 points), and Information sector (+5 points) SMBs more often state they will have this need. Targeting SMBs in these sectors may enhance the acquisition efforts of E-commerce and website development/hosting providers.

Graphs for the three Needs across All Industries are Shown Below