Market research firm ActivMedia Inc. said its annual “Real
Numbers Behind ‘Net Profits” survey of Web site revenue confirms the
correlation between time online and profitability.
In fact, 58% of business executives surveyed who have three or more years of
Web presence reported that their site is profitable.
For the past three years, roughly 3 in 10 Web execs reported profitability.
This year, for the first time, nearly half (46%) are reporting profits, the
survey showed. The length of online experience is proving to be a clear
indicator of marketing success that holds true across all industry sectors.
Revenue among respondents in the study ranged from $0 to $50 million. In 1997,
the top 10% of revenue-producing Web sites averaged $4 million.
The survey also found that the average B-to-B sale is almost $3,000. For
1-in-10, it is above $10,000. And 37% of manufacturing/industrial sites
(having at least 1,700 employees) are profitable; 1-in-4 expects to be
profitable in 1998; and 29% declare that their Web site is not a tool for generating revenue.
“The global economic impact of e-commerce is surging across all industry sectors,” said ActivMedia’s vice president of research Harold Wolhandler. “Our findings, based on a global random sample of all Web sites, indicate that the high-profile leaders are not the only successes online. Large and small companies alike have learned the ropes of on-line marketing and find that cyberspace is a wonderfully productive marketplace.”
The study is available for purchase as a single report copy for $2,995 or as a multi-seat site license–allowing access for an entire department–for
$5,000.
