Import, export and promotion in times of economic crisis: What forms of behaviour are adopted by French, German, Italian and Spanish SMEs in the current economic climate?

Paris, June 8, 2010. Europages, the European B2B search engine, has published the results of an international survey, conducted by the OpinionWay institute, on the trends for imports-exports and promotion tools used by European SMEs in times of economic crisis. The purpose of this survey is twofold: gaining a better understanding of what motivates imports and exports for these SMEs, and identifying their methods of communication and Internet usage.

1) SMEs and import

Among the German, French, Italian and Spanish companies surveyed, almost 2 out of 5 currently import. On the whole, the most active importers have a staff of more than 10, and work in distribution (71%) and trade (72%). Most companies that import do so more than 10 times a year; this pace is particularly high in France (66%). Among non-importers, almost 1 company in 3 envisages looking for overseas suppliers, in particular those working in commerce and distribution, and those created less than 10 years ago.

Representing the top import area for companies polled, Western Europe accounts for an average 56% of imports. Central and Eastern Europe represents 50% for Germany. Globally, all companies in the survey plan to consolidate their imports, in particular from Europe and China.

2) SMEs and export

Almost half of the companies polled have some sort of export activity. For the other half, 27% of them - mostly Italian and Spanish - plan to start exporting. Structures with 10 employees or more export the most (62% - 67%). More than half of the companies that export (in particular those with a staff of 10 or more) do so roughly 10 times a year.

Western Europe is the main export zone, accounting for 71% on average. Other European regions (South, Central and North) are also favoured, in particular Central and Eastern Europe for Germany. Most of the companies polled plan to consolidate their exchanges on the European market.

3) New forms of behaviour

Given the economic crisis, SMEs have changed the way they use their promotional tools, mainly for reasons that tie in with budget restraints. Use of the company website as the main vector for promoting activity has increased for 52% of SMEs polled, while electronic direct marketing has increased for 53%, and standard marketing (mail or phone) for 41%.

The main tools concerned by a drop in use are press, radio and television ads (-49%, -45% and -39% respectively), and participation in trade fairs with a stand (-36%).

Some specificities by country:

• Germany: participation in trade fairs has suffered the most, followed by advertising in specialised or sector-specific magazines (down 49% and 37% respectively)
• France: advertising in specialised or sector-specific magazines and press advertising are down the most (a drop of 51%)
• Italy: the same as above, on average
• Spain: press advertising and press relations (down 51% and 42% respectively)

Increase in the Internet advertising budget

In these times of economic crisis, changes in terms of advertising budget are fairly contrasted. More than half of the companies polled do not plan to increase their advertising budget by more than 9%. However, 40% of them plan to increase this budget by between 10% and 39%.

Search Engine Optimization (36%), e-mailing (24%), Search Engine Marketing and online sales (10%) are the 4 most favoured Internet tools. This situation is similar across all the countries polled. In all cases, the company website takes priority for promoting activity overseas, followed by search engines. Germany makes greater use of professional B2B sites. The Internet's attractive cost and permanent visibility are the 2 main factors for its preference among SMEs to promote their activity.

However, while most companies polled make use of online communication methods, only 30% of them benefit from a specialized team within their structures; 34% have no specialized team, either in terms of employees or subcontractors.

To obtain the full survey feel free to contact Europages’ communication department whose details are below.