In the run-up to Christmas, business experts are worried local enterprises could be losing out because they are not operating on the Internet.

The £3.3 billion e-spending boom predicted for the Christmas period will bypass the vast majority of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in the South West, according to a report from Business Link Berkshire and Wiltshire.

The results of 3,202 interviews with SMEs across the South West region, reveal that more than half of businesses (53.9 per cent) have not yet woken up to the e-commerce and electronic trading revolution, as they do not have a website, and four in ten (39.3 per cent) have so far ignored the lure of email facilities.

North Wiltshire businesses are divided about the merits of trading on the Internet. While some are already up and running in cyberspace, others believe there is no advantage to it.

Uniform and embroidery specialists Smart Alec, based in New Road, Chippenham, have been operating on the Internet for around three years, using their website as a shop window where customers can find out what is available.

"It does generate enquiries," a Smart Alec spokesman said.

"We still do most business with local people and by referral but we also have customers coming from outside the area after seeing the website.

"You have to have one now."

He said they were about to update the website, which would help them sell school uniform, which is supplied to schools outside the area, as far afield as Slough and Chelmsford.

In contrast, the Cellar Gallery in the Causeway, Chippenham, has decided e-business is not for them, because it causes more problems than benefits.

"We did set up a website but it didn't work for us," said proprietor David Long.

"It takes a lot of time, and you can't do framing over the Internet people have to come in."

He said the problems of viruses, system failure and spam mail had put them off using a website.

However e-commerce has helped the Cellar Gallery indirectly, as many people now order art prints internationally over the Internet and then bring them into the shop to be framed.

The MOT Centre in Audley Road, Chippenham, is another local business that does not use the Internet but a spokesman said they were in the process of setting up a website.

"It's not very practical for us, because people need to phone to book a time that's not something you can do over the Internet very well," a spokesman said.

Plans to make the transition to electronic trading do not appear high on the agenda for many local businesses.

According to feedback from the survey, seven in ten businesses without a website and eight in ten without e-mail have no intention to get on-line within the next 12 months.

Even those businesses in the South West which do operate a website offer limited facilities to customers and corporate clients.