Sometimes it’s good to know where small businesses stand today and what factors effect their success or failure. While the mega-marts and giant online retailers grab most of today’s headlines, there are plenty of interesting stats out there regarding small businesses ... For instance, each year there are over 1,000,000 small businesses started in North America. 800,000 of these fail in the first five years. Of those 200,000 that make it past five years, 160,000 fail in the next five years. An alarming quote found in the book E-Myth by Michael Gerber, 2008. In no particular order, here are some of the small biz stats I’ve stumbled across:
Small businesses represent 99.7% of all employer firms, and they employ 50% of all private sector employees, including 39% of high tech workers such as scientists, engineers, and computer workers. -- SBA, 2006
“14% of Inc. Magazine’s 500 fastest growing companies in the United States started with less than $1,000.” -- Inc., 2002
“Online retailers are acquiring new customers at a 15% annual rate versus 2% for traditional brick and mortar retail outlets.” -- Deloitte & Touché USA, 2006
“U.S. consumers are expected to increase their retail online spending from $877 per consumer in 2005 to $1,512 per consumer by 2009.” -- Deloitte & Touché USA, 2006
“By 2011, companies are expected to spend $26 billion on internet classifieds.” -- Jupiter Research, 2006
“Each year there are over 1,000,000 small businesses started in North America. 800,000 of these fail in the first five years. Of those 200,000 that make it past five years, 160,000 fail in the next five years.” -- Michael Gerber, author of E-Myth, 2008
“Very small firms with fewer than 20 employees spend 45% more per employee than the largest firms to comply with federal regulations.” -- SBA, 2005
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