Small businesses without websites
The share of small businesses with no website is much higher than the internet's own self-image suggests, and it is wildly uneven between countries. We measure it every month across 20 markets, so here is what the data actually says.
The number depends on the country, not the year
In Colombia, 41% of local businesses in the trades we cover declare a website. In Spain it is 58%. In Canada it is 82% and in the United States 77.5%. So a developed market is a worse market for this work, not a better one — the businesses are there, but most of them already have what you would sell.
Population is the wrong way to pick a city
Canada holds 1.6 times more businesses than Colombia and half the sellable inventory. Venezuela's 28 million people yield fewer businesses without websites than El Salvador's 6 million, because the underlying map data is thin. If you are choosing where to sell, the ratio matters more than the size.
Which trades are furthest behind
Consistently: hair and beauty salons, auto repair shops, restaurants, grocery and convenience stores, clothing shops. Consistently ahead: hotels, real estate agencies, dentists — anywhere a booking or a listing forced them online years ago. Selling to the first group is easier and the ticket is smaller; the second group pays more and says no more often.
Small does not mean unreachable
The businesses furthest behind are also the easiest to reach: one owner, one decision, no procurement. A hairdresser or a mechanic can say yes on the phone in ninety seconds, where a mid-sized company will route you through three people and a form. The lack of a website and the speed of the decision come from the same place — nobody in that business is responsible for the internet, so it never happened.
Turning it into a call list
Whatever method you use, the output has to be a phone number and an address, filtered to one trade and one city, or you will not actually work through it. A list of five hundred mixed businesses gets opened once and never again. A list of forty hairdressers in your own city gets called, because it is short enough to finish and specific enough to have one pitch for.
What the count tells you before you start
Knowing there are 380 businesses of one trade in your city with no website changes the decision: it is a week of calling with a known end. Knowing there are 12 tells you to pick another trade before wasting the afternoon. That is the practical use of a count — not the sale, the decision about where to spend the week.