Small businesses, which need to stay agile to keep afloat in the competitive marketplace, appear to be planning to make most of advancing mobile technology. According to a survey conducted by daily deals website RapidBuyr, a large many number of small business owners are going to purchase tablet computers to enable themselves to work from anywhere at any time.
Given the findings of the survey, mobile technologies and travel deals top the list of purchases they have planned to make in the year ahead.
Nearly 49 percent of respondents have revealed that they have intended to purchase at least one tablet computer, like the iPad, while 44 percent of others said they plan to buy mobile phones, particularly smartphones.
"These results underscore just how important having access to the latest technology can be for small businesses to allow them to get more done with fewer resources," said Pete Angus, director of marketing with RapidBuyr.
Interestingly, 62 percent of respondents spoke of planning air travel. That means restaurants and rental car services may show strong demand this year.
The outcome of the survey underscores the belief that computer hardware and peripherals, along with web design and printing services, will continue to attract customers as ever.
Angus says the small business market is often overlooked by the major vendors because it is highly fragmented, with little potential for the bulk buying power that makes big businesses so attractive to vendors.
RapidBuyr, in the meantime, is preparing to cash in on its own finding, offering up to 80 percent off on technology products like printers, headsets and even software and SaaS (News 
- Alert) products, along with other business products and service from both national brands and local merchants.
RapidBuyr has recently acquired Los Angeles-based B2B weekly deal site BizDeals.com, adding a hundreds of new sellers to its network, expanding customer base and distribution footprint.
The company says more than 2,000 customers responded to the survey, which was conducted in November and December 2011.
UBM Electronics has recently partnered with RapidBuyr to provide daily deals on business products and services to its customers.
Narayan Bhat is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Narayan’s articles, please visit his columnist page.Edited by
Rich Steeves
