British Businesses to Increase Online Marketing Investment

Companies throughout Britain are planning to invest more in online advertising as households increasingly use the internet for routine purchases.

by Helen Leggatt

According to a recent survey by Google and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI),
British online marketing spending will rise from US$5.4 billion this year to US$6.3 billion in 2009.

Recent Eurostat figures show that 77 percent of companies and 44 percent of all households in Britain had broadband access during Q1 2006.

"Six years after the dot.com bubble burst, the internet is driving really substantial change among businesses," Richard Lambert, director general of the CBI, said in a statement.

Other findings include:-

- 60 percent of British consumers say the internet has given them more buying power
- 43 percent say that the technology is making companies more accountable
- 83 percent use search engines to learn about products and services
- 72 percent make choices based on reviews and opinions of others
- 9 out of 10 dislike pop-up windows
- 40 percent don’t shop online as they find it too expensive and complicated to return a product
- 44 percent prefer to be able to examine products before purchasing them

Businesses are making growing use of new online media, for instance viral marketing (8 per cent), podcasts (8 per cent) and blogs (8 per cent). It is expected to treble to over 20 per cent for podcasts and blogs over the next three years.

The CBI is the UK's leading business organisation, represenging 240,000 businesses that together employ around a third of the private sector workforce.