The internet is fast becoming the primary tool for communicating with consumers, with research from Carat stating that explosive adoption of web-enabled smart devices means that ad spending allocated to online is now easily outpacing overall growth in advertising.

With the ad market still struggling from recessionary aftershocks, overall growth of all advertising is predicted to reach a modest five per cent this year.  In contrast, savvy businesses realising that consumers are increasingly turning away from traditional channels such as newspapers and television in favour of interacting via apps and online communities, are increasing their investment in online communications by almost 15 per cent.

Next to consider is the news that volume of business directly related to the internet in the UK will represent 12.4 per cent of the country’s GDP by 2016, making it the leading web-fuelled economy in the world according to The Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

“Around the world SMEs which embrace the Internet are growing faster and adding more jobs than those that don’t.  By encouraging businesses to adopt the Internet, countries can improve their competitiveness and growth prospects,” says David Dean, BCG senior partner and co-author of the report.

James West explains why these figures are the first signs of a fundamental shift in how businesses talk to customers here.