As Tech Thrives, Small Businesses + Consumers Thrive With It
Small businesses and consumers are the backbone of America’s economy, bolstered by leading tech services — not inhibited by them. Digital tools enable small businesses to connect with consumers worldwide, amplifying their mission and products. Technology regulators and antitrust experts are in agreement: as tech thrives, small businesses and consumers thrive with it.
— Leading tech services empower small businesses to grow, reach customers, and promote their services globally.
— Consumers benefit from today’s robust tech sector, with access to innovative and affordable products.
Leading tech services empower small businesses to grow, reach customers, and promote their services globally.
Leading tech services act as a bridge between small businesses and consumers, highlights Carl Szabo of NetChoice. “And with the advent of the internet, we’ve removed the high startup costs that are often seen in traditional markets. The next big innovation is readily buildable and distributable further advancing the natural erosion of the first mover advantage. For Americans and America’s small businesses, bigger is better. What we see here are two-sided markets. You have consumers on one side and small businesses on the other. These platforms are operating as the bridge between the two. The connection is providing a much needed lifeline to America’s Main Street businesses. And the bigger the platform, the better it is for these small businesses because it gives greater access to more potential customers. It drives down prices for advertising and, with micro targeted ads, American businesses can be sure that every dollar they spend on advertising actually leads to sales, something you didn’t have in traditional media.”
The tech market is interconnected, with leading tech services enabling small businesses to access affordable and scalable resources, argues Jake Ward of the Connected Commerce Council. “When considering the role of large tech companies in the market, it is essential Members of Congress think about small businesses’ deep connection to these companies. This market is interconnected and big companies power growing companies to compete and win.”
— “It is indisputable that large digital platforms, services, and marketplaces provide small businesses with affordable, scalable, and secure business solutions. They have opened up new markets and allowed small businesses to compete globally and in ways that were unimaginable a few decades ago. What is not understood is that these solutions are affordable, scalable, and secure because of the platforms’ relative size. Big is not always bad and in this instance, big is essential. It is the size and scale of platforms and marketplaces that enable them to invest in new tools and provide the price flexibility that gives small businesses a pathway to viability, growth, and success.” (Link)
Small businesses benefit from the operational and advertising-based offerings of leading tech services, notes Joe Kennedy of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. “These platforms often offer a variety of other services, such as handling the payments, shipping, handling returns — thus saving the small business from having to do that itself. Gig platforms match small businessmen and women with potential customers that are interested in their services, thus allowing them to build a clientele without spending more money on print advertising, radio, or mail inserts.”
Consumers benefit from today’s robust tech sector, with access to innovative and affordable products.
Robust ecommerce and search options have placed today’s consumers in “the Golden Age” of retail choice, spotlights Thomas W. Hazlett of Clemson University. “Now, thanks to platforms offering ‘long tail’ selections encompassing truly massive inventories, eCommerce platforms, and Google (or other) search engines to identify bargains, Americans have achieved something of a Golden Age in retail choice.”
Today’s digital markets provide “enormous consumer surplus to users,” reminds Geoffrey Manne of the International Center for Law and Economics. “But both common sense and empirical evidence show that digital markets are currently providing enormous consumer surplus to users, intuitions to the contrary notwithstanding. Although critics may quibble about the exact amount of consumer surplus generated by digital goods, it is undeniably the case that such surplus exists, and its existence is inconsistent with a belief that vast anticompetitive concentration has been permitted by enforcers.”
Digital tools create more affordable advertising avenues for small businesses, allowing them to reinvest and provide lower prices to consumers, as supported by a Progressive Policy Institute study. “For every $3 that an advertiser currently spends on digital advertising, they would have to spend $5 on print advertising to get the same impact. To put it another way, digital ads are 40 percent cheaper than print ads of equivalent effectiveness.”
Today’s app economy is quickly expanding, with benefits spreading across sectors and ultimately reaching consumers, said Morgan Reed of The App Association. “The app economy in America is thriving, growing up from virtually nonexistent in 2007 to $1.3 trillion today. It has created 5.7 million jobs globally [and] is revolutionizing traditional industry verticals, making everything from agriculture to health care better and smarter.”