According to research by SavvySME, business owners and entrepreneurs in the hospitality industry lagged significantly behind those in other industries when it came to online activity.

The SavvySME Industry Report 2022 analyzed how active each industry was on the business community marketplace in the past 12 months.

Based on the study, retailers were the most active industry online in 2021, accounting for 29.63% of activity online.

Through the pandemic, retailers increasingly expanded online.

Phillip Kuoch, SavvySME Influencer in Retail discussed how COVID-19 forced them to focus on their online channels.

“Whilst we’ve had to reduce our trading hours at our three retail stores across Melbourne, there has been increased hours for our staff, as we have re-purposed their positions to help pack, handle and deliver our gift boxes for online orders and delivery.

With everything that’s happening now with the COVID19 outbreak, it has forced us to really focus and grow on our online channels and so far, we’ve been having great success, as our staff have been driving up to 1000km around Melbourne, delivering our doughnut gift boxes to our happily satisfied consumers.”

Those in hospitality however, accounted for only 2.13% of online activity on the community marketplace.

The hospitality businesses that withstood the impact of lockdowns and decreased customer sentiment were found to have migrated to online retail.

SavvySME Influencer in Hospitality, Rob Tamburro discussed how online sales for his restaurant chain took off through COVID-19.

“I also own a restaurant chain. We now also manufacture our own pastas and sauces, frozen and delivered to your doorstep.

As supermarket shelves remained empty, our online sales for our frozen pastas have gone through the roof. It has taken off a lot faster than anything we have seen before.”

The construction and healthcare industries were the next most active online in the past 12 months, accounting for 14.89% and 11.15% respectively of online activity on the business platform.

SavvySME Top Influencer in Ecommerce, Andrew Spring discusses which businesses survived and thrived over the past year.

“The brands that will survive are the ones that tackle the changing landscape head on, and continue to evolve.”

He noted of retailers,

“E-commerce is a necessity now, not a point of difference.”

The consulting and strategy industry came in fourth most active online at 9.94%.

Tom Valcanis, SavvySME Top Influencer in Advertising speaks on the future of in-person networking.

“I’m finding that businesses are using this (COVID-19) as an opportunity to rebrand or re-tool their presence to be more online-focused. I think there are many opportunities out there for businesses to use their websites and online presence as a business card. I don’t think in-person networking will return for some time yet.”

Most active industries online (last 12 months)

Source: SavvySME Industry Report 2022