19% of US consumers will use their mobile phones for shopping this Christmas.

A Deloitte survey reports that 19% of US shoppers will use their mobile device over the holiday season to help find what they want. Younger people feature in this use. 39% of consumers aged 18 to 29 will use their mobile phones to check products, prices, find store locations and get directions.

25% of those who use their mobile phone to help with their shopping say they will buy the product on their phone.

While the sales figures are still small for purchases on mobile devices, currently $750 million, less than 1% of online sales, retailers are moving to provide mobile shopping sites to cater for the expected growth in this area.

Internet Retailer reports that 112 retailers now have either mobile commerce sites, or applications, or both. Many large companies are making mobile purchases available, including Toys R Us, Sears and Victoria’s Secret.

Mobile phones are being used to compare prices, and check whether goods are available. Smartphone applications are helping drive the trend of shopping on mobile devices.

Normal websites are not very successful to view from a mobile phone, and in most cases, they just don’t function.

EBay’s mobile website has over 1 million consumers visit a day and will make $500 million this year in sales, which is currently 66% of all mobile sales.

While shoppers are not yet as comfortable about buying on their mobile phone as they are on their desktop computer, the number of people doing this is increasing at a high rate. This will continue as consumers become more relaxed about mobile shopping after having used the facility.

We are assisting by providing an iPhone version of our Local Search Facility in our US Business Directory. We have over 10 million business listed and we provide the prospects to them without cost.


Monte Huebsch, CEO

Small US firm’s sales are down 3.8% in 2009.

Sageworks, in a survey of 10,000 banks and small business CPAs, reports that small company’s sales reduced by 3.8% for this year to the end of October. They had a sales increase of 2.4% in 2008.

Large firms were better off with an average fall in sales of only 1.8% for the same period this year.

Certain small business sectors fared worse than others in sales reductions, transport and storage fell 16.7%, manufacturing fell 13.8%, wholesalers fell 10.4% and retailers fell 6.7%.

The National Federation of Independent Businesses reports that 86% of small businesses had flat or reduced earnings over the last three months and 82% had level or lower sales in that period. In the next three months, 21% plan to reduce staff and 32% will reduce stock levels.

From 1993 to 2008, US small businesses provided 65% of job growth and they account for approximately 50% of non government employment, so their recovery will determine the improvement in the current high unemployment rate.

The weak US dollar has hurt small firms who import raw materials and there is little upside in this for them since most do not export. The housing crisis has also created problems for building contractors which are mostly small companies.

Tight credit has meant that many small business owners have used credit cards to finance their operations and many lenders are now reducing credit limits.

So small firms are still having difficulties which have been produced by the economic downturn and Government assistance doesn’t seem to be getting to them.

We help by providing prospects to them at no cost from our Local Search facility in our US Business Directory. The majority of the 10 million firms listed in our directory are small businesses.

Monte Huebsch, CEO

US small businesses are struggling to move out of the recession and to hire additional employees.

The US unemployment rate increased from 9.8% in September to 10.2% in October. Small businesses have led the turnaround in employment after economic downturns in the past, but that has not happened yet.

A survey by the National Federation of Independent Businesses reports that 19% of small firms, on a seasonally adjusted basis, reduced worker numbers by an average of 4.2 workers in the July, August, September period. Only 8% increased staff in that period, by an average of 3.5 for each business.

The Small Business Administration says that small firms, defined as under 20 staff, provide 25% of all jobs and contributed 40% of employment growth after the last recession.

The reasons that small businesses are not hiring aggressively are:

Credit restrictions - most do not have property to offer as security, which is generally required, with tightened borrowing conditions being applied by lenders.

Few small firms export – so the economic upturn internationally is not helping them.

Cost of health care – the cost for small businesses is substantially higher than for large firms. The healthcare bill which was passed by the House of Representatives provides a cap on costs and wider coverage, and if passed by the Senate will help with this problem for small US companies.

So although the recession is technically over, with the US economy returning to growth, the state of business for small firms is still difficult and they are not yet hiring in sufficient numbers to lower the unemployment rate.

We contribute to the success of small businesses by sending them qualified prospects from our Local Search facility in our US Business Directory with no cost to them. Most of the 10 million business listed in our directory are small businesses.

Monte Huebsch, CEO