A new customer survey conducted by B2B daily deals service RapidBuyr has found that mobile technologies and travel deals top the list of purchases that small business owners plan to make in the coming year.

Not surprisingly, tablet computers, like the iPad, appear to be in high demand, with 49 percent saying they intend to purchase one in the next six to 12 months. In addition, 44 percent plan to buy mobile phones, a trend that points to the growing popularity of mobile technologies, especially among small businesses that thrive on agility and demand technologies that enable them to work from anywhere at any time.

Perhaps related to the mobile demand, travel services also top the list of planned expenditures, with 62 percent of respondents planning air travel, while 55 percent will need hotel rooms. Restaurants and rental car services also show strong demand, at 38 and 34 percent, respectively.

"These results underscore just how important having access to the latest technology can be for small businesses to allow them to get more done with fewer resources," said Pete Angus, director of marketing with RapidBuyr. "But, these products also tend to be quite expensive, and this is exactly where RapidBuyr can do the most good, by offering small businesses big savings on the products and services they need most."

In addition to revealing new insights into the buying habits of small businesses, the RapidBuyr survey also confirmed that computer hardware and peripherals, along with web design and printing services, remain vital, every-day needs. While these items are in high demand, Angus says the small business market is often overlooked by the major vendors because it is highly fragmented, with little potential for the bulk buying power that makes big businesses so attractive to vendors.

This is where RapidBuyr comes in: by creating a captive audience pool of millions of small business customers, RapidBuyr brings big-business buying power to small businesses, offering up to 80 percent off on technology products like printers, headsets and even software and SaaS products, along with other business products and service from both national brands and local merchants. RapidBuyr deals are distributed daily to an audience of nearly 40 million SMBs across the country through a growing network of partnerships with leading business media outlets.

More than 2,000 customers responded to the survey, which was conducted in November and December 2011. RapidBuyr plans to repeat the survey every few months to assess small business needs and keep a finger on the pulse of purchasing plans to help fine tune its offerings with the best deals on the most relevant products and services.