Website design ‘hits 100m mark’
Britain’s Website design industry is worth 100m, and is likely to nearly double in value over the next two years, according to a survey of British companies’ use of the Internet commissioned by BT.
According to Nick Gibson, analyst at Durlacher Research: “A couple of years ago there were only a handful of Web design agencies – now the industry is worth nearly 100m, and will grow at a rate of 40 per cent a year over the next two years.”
But a large segment of the booming market in Web design and maintenance services is being driven by a high volume of low-value contracts, according to the report.
Among medium and small-sized businesses operating Websites, half contract out the design and maintenance of their sites.
But the average spend is less than 3,000, while many small companies spend less than 1,000 on developing a Web presence.
“Among the top end Web design companies, the average spend is well into the 20,000 to 30,000 range,” says Gibson.
“But at the other end of the scale, a lot of firms are spending 1,000 or less on design services offered by ISPs [Internet Service Providers].”