Small businesses can SizeUp competition

Sussex County has partnered with SizeUp, an internet-based research company, to integrate its financial technology service into the county’s economic development website, ExciteSussex.com.

The company’s service will be offered free of charge to existing and start-up small businesses in southern Delaware, said Sussex County Economic Development Director William Pfaff during Sussex County Council's June 4 meeting.

SizeUp allows small business owners to evaluate their competitiveness and make decisions based on data to increase revenue and save money. Owners or potential owners can dial in specifics on their businesses by ZIP code to map out the competition, make comparisons and even determine the best advertising market.

“It provides good information for businesses to make informed decisions,” Pfaff said.

SizeUp provides many of the same demographic, industry, geographic, business and cost data that large corporations rely on to make informed decisions, he said, but it provides it to small business and start-up operators at no cost through partnerships with banks, chambers of commerce and local governments such as Sussex County.

Data will not only be available from Sussex County, but also part of Kent County and the eastern shores of Maryland and Virginia. But, Pfaff said, when businesses log on to the website, Sussex County will always be the featured location.

In addition to the service being offered on the county’s economic development website, local municipalities will be offered a free link to SizeUp, Pfaff said.

Councilman Sam Wilson was not in favor of the program, saying it would attract more people and more traffic. “Bigger is not better,” he said. “I'm not in favor of growing the county bigger; I'm not in favor of more people on the highway. Before long, we'll be like Wilmington and then New York City. We don't need more industry here. We waste a lot of time on this foolishness.”

The remaining four councilmen voted in support of the program.