While small business owners may be open to embracing mobilecommerce activity, some are likely putting up roadblocks that mightprevent usage from their consumers.

That's one of the findings from a new report compiled byControlScan and TransFirst, which collected responses from morethan 1,650 merchants.

Eighty-two percent of ecommerce merchants said they didn't knowwhether a purchase on their website came from a mobile device or a PC. However, data from those who did know,indicated that mobile site visitors represented a significantlyincreasing portion of online sales.

Forty-nine percent of ecommerce merchants knew their websiteswere not currently optimized for mobile devices, according to thereport.

An additional 17% said they didn't know or were unsure abouttheir site's current status, revealing that as many as two-thirdsof these merchants may be putting up roadblocks to the growingnumber of mobile consumers.

“The mobile consumer is knocking at the small merchant's door,”said Craig Tieken, director of product at TransFirst, a Hauppauge,N.Y.-based provider of transaction processing services and paymentenabling technologies.

Tieken added, “Businessowners who aren't already up to speed with mobile paymentacceptance need to have a viable plan of action to get there.”

The research also showed that 10% of respondents to last year'sbenchmark Mobile Payment Acceptance Survey said they were using asmartphone or tablet to accept face-to-face credit card payments.In less than one year's time, that number has almost doubled to17%.

The survey was sent to those businesses classified by credit card brands as “Level 4,” which are merchants thatprocess fewer than 20,000 ecommerce or one million physical cardtransactions annually, according to ControlScan, an Atlanta-basedpayment and compliance service provider, and TransFirst.

The firms said these typically small to mid-sized businessesrepresent service areas such as retail and consumer goods,healthcare and human services, personal and professional services,and restaurant and hospitality. Three-quarters of surveyrespondents' businesses had 10 or fewer employees.