Study cites gender differences in Internet business usage

Women-owned businesses are just as likely to be online for business as are men-owned firms, but women entrepreneurs are more likely than men entrepreneurs to find the Internet beneficial for opening up a wider range of business opportunities and allowing more time flexibility, according to a new study from Center for Women's Business Research, which was underwritten by Wells Fargo Bank.

"Women-owned businesses are similar to all businesses in their use of online technology. Sixty-one percent of wo-men-owned businesses are using the Internet in their business, about the same as the percentage of men-owned businesses," said Nina McLemore, chair of the Center for Women's Busi-ness Research and president of Regent Capital.

"Overall," she said, "women and men business owners agree that the primary advantages of the Internet lie in its information-gathering and communications capabilities. But women entrepreneurs differ significantly from their men counterparts in valuing the Internet's capability to open up a wider range of business opportunities (49 percent of women compared to 27 percent of men) and the increased flexibility of time and schedule it affords them (39 percent of women compared to 27 percent of men)."

Greater Internet use

"Both women- and men-owned businesses are using the Internet to a much greater extent than in the past, said Colleen Anderson, executive vice president and head of California Business Banking for Wells Fargo Bank. "More than half of women and men business owners, 52 percent and 51 percent respectively, report that the amount of time their firms spend online has in-creased over the past year. Furthermore, three-quarters of women and men expect that their online activity will continue to increase. Consequently, they will continue to search for online services as a tool to increase efficiency and opportunities."

Almost one-quarter of entrepreneurs (18 percent of women business owners and 24 percent of men business owners) do at least some of their business banking online. "However," Anderson added, "women entrepreneurs who bank online are more likely than men entrepreneurs to visit their financial institution's Web site (55 percent of women business owners compared to 37 percent of men business owners). This tells us that the savvy woman business owner wants full customer service online, which includes offering well-organized and comprehensive financial and account information."

Women and men entrepreneurs are equally as likely to be engaged in using the Internet for e-commerce. Fully three-quarters of women and men business owners who use the Internet purchase business goods and services online. Further, half the women and men entrepreneurs who use the Internet (52 percent and 51 percent respectively) are now selling their products and services online.

Marketing

In addition, wo-men- and men-owned businesses both use the Internet to market their firms. Half of both women- and men-owned firms have Web sites (50 percent and 54 percent respectively). Nearly all of the women- and men-owned firms with Web sites offer the ability to accept e-mail inquiries and 45 percent of women- and 46 percent of men-owned firms also offer a toll-free number for phone inquiries or orders.

"Both women and men are actively maintaining their Web sites," McLemore said. "More than one-third (34 percent of women and 35 percent of men) have changed or upgraded the design of their Web site four or more times since it was first launched. And more than one-third of the sites (39 percent of women- and 35 percent of men-owned firms) actually offer online ordering directly from their Web site."

There is no gender difference in revenue generation from Web sites. On average, both women- and men-owned firms with Web sites receive less than 10 percent of their revenue from online sales and only one in four (24 percent of women and 27 percent of men) indicate that revenues from their Web sites have exceeded the cost of operating the site.

Home-based businesses

The study also shows that home-based businesses are just as likely to be online and actually purchase a larger portion of their business goods and services online than non-home-based firms. "The myth that home-based businesses are less technologically sophisticated is just that, a myth," said Anderson of Wells Fargo Bank. "Nearly 20 percent (18.9 percent) of the goods and services purchased by home-based women-owned firms are purchased online, compared to 11 percent of the goods and services purchased by other women-owned businesses."

Despite the increasing intensity of Internet use among most United States businesses, 39 percent of women-owned firms and 45 percent of men-owned firms nationally are not using the Inter-net for business. These "off-line" firms are older than firms that use the Internet and smaller in size. The owners tend to be older and less educated than the owners of the firms that are online.