Fuel price hikes dampen spending for SMEs

For some small businesses it’s not been the credit crunch that’s been the biggest headache over recent months, it’s been the cost of fuel.  And according to a survey released today, nearly one in four SMEs have cut spending as a direct result of price hikes at the pumps.

The survey from Enterprise Rent-a-Car showed that 23% of small firms were cutting back to offset the increased cost of petrol and diesel which has risen by 12% and 17% since the beginning of the year.

Just over a quarter of those surveyed said they only visited their customers face-to-face around once a month.  The team at Enterprise suggest, with rather thin evidence to back their hypothesis, that this level of sparse customer contact is also down to the price of fuel.

It seems just as likely that it’s a symptom of the type of business concerned, increasing awareness of environmental issues or the facility with which meetings can now be conducted virtually, thanks to ubiquitous broadband.

Picture thanks to JohnDavidOakley @ flickr

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