Online sales are proving vital for small businesses over holiday periods, according to Spark, who says it is important SMBs develop a successful web and social media strategy.
According to the telco firm, insights shared by Spark around where Kiwis head to over Easter is proving to be a valuable resource for small businesses preparing for an influx of visitors to their town.
Sally Gordon, small business communications manager for Spark, says holiday breaks like Easter provide an opportunity for businesses to make a connection with their customers - which doesn't have to end when they leave town.
"There are many examples of small and medium businesses right across the country thriving with the help of successful web and social media strategy making them accessible from anywhere, at anytime", Gordon says.
"If you think about it, this really encapsulates the Kiwi innovation mentality. We are a nation of entrepreneurs, so geographical location shouldn't be a barrier to success," she says.
Qrious insights, which are based on anonymised, aggregated customer data, show that over Easter weekend in 2015 one holiday hotspot, the Bay of Plenty, had an additional 33,560 visitors from New Zealand's three main centres - Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
During this period Tauranga experienced a 62% spike in daily mobile data usage.
"Having a social media presence and understanding how to market yourself is really important", Gordon says.
"If you look at the insight that we are seeing around the movement of people, the convenience of searching for services, ordering and buying things online and the popularity of social media, there is a real opportunity for small business to get noticed," she explains.
Qrious insight from 2015 shows across the country the most popular holiday hotspots, defined by Regional Tourism Organisations (RTOs), were Waikato, Northland, Coromandel and South Canterbury.
Domestic tourism insights were provided by Qrious. Qrious uses anonymous mobile location data from Spark to provide insights into the aggregated movements of people within New Zealand. Visitor numbers are produced by extrapolating activity seen on the Spark network out to an estimate of total visitor numbers.
Qrious is a data analytics business owned by Spark,
