How small firms still rely on faxes

SMALL business owners are more likely to still use faxes to sell their goods than a mobile phone app, a report has found.

A quarter said they will send faxes to potential customers in the next 12 months – a technology which has been in use for more than 50 years – while just 15pc push for sales through their own smartphone app. But 69pc of SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) will use their website for sales, and 44pc said they will use social media, according to research by Capital Economics.

Email was the most popular communication tool for SMEs – companies which employ fewer than 250 people – with 85pc planning to use it to sell.

The survey of more than 1,000 SMEs found 73pc had not delayed any business decisions as a result of Brexit, with the majority forecasting 1.6pc sales growth over the coming 12 months.

Despite this, 39pc of those surveyed admitted that they feared Brexit would negatively affect their sales.

It also found that small business owners who use modern e-commerce methods were more confident about their prospects than their peers who did not, expecting to grow 1.8pc in the coming year compared to 1.2pc.