Leveraging Digital Resources and Training for Small Business Growth and Community Benefit: What Small Businesses Need Today

Empower by GoDaddy is proud to celebrate 5 years of serving entrepreneurs everywhere. This report is intended as a reflection of our learnings and framework for others to follow suit in supporting local small business owners around the world.

What Small Businesses Need Today

Today's business landscape looks different than that of a decade ago, and — thanks to COVID-19 —different even than the picture of two years ago. Digitization is the dominant trend, and while that has been the case for years now, the pandemic super-charged the speed and urgency of this shift. McKinsey reports that the pandemic accelerated the progress of digital transformation by three or four years. Executives told McKinsey that they see this shift as permanent and are making investments in further digital advancement.¹

Statistics bear out the importance of this development. UN trade and development experts report that global ecommerce’s share of retail sales jumped from 16% to 19% during 2020, calling the rise “dramatic,”² and McKinsey reports that e-commerce experienced 10 years’ worth of growth in three months in 2020.³

"The density of websites represents an important new measure of digital participation in communities and in local economies."
– Harvard Business Review Analytic Services ⁴

A survey of 8,200 marketers by Salesforce found that 90% had changed their approach during the pandemic, with 91% focusing on social media, 88% publishing digital content, and 86% putting energy into websites and apps.⁵ Research from PYMNTS found that in fall 2020, one-third of consumers said they were very or extremely likely to purchase from a retailer that offers digital, touchless offerings over one that doesn’t. This data and more like it prompted PYMTS to ask whether small businesses can “avoid being left behind in the great digital shift.”⁶

Creating a robust digital presence has become a near-necessity for many small business, no matter their sector or location. While some small businesses have a brick-and-mortar presence, online activity can provide a much broader scope of economic opportunity, as it does not rely on physical proximity to customers.

^{Photo: Hopeton St. Clair Hibbert, St. Clair Renaissance}

With the rapid rise in digitization and changing customer expectations about how businesses should market and sell, small businesses urgently need support in ensuring their digital presence is robust. GoDaddy Venture Forward data shows that a digital presence can expand the reach and financial success of small enterprises, and that they need technical assistance or what AEO calls trusted guidance — training, tools, and networks — to establish and enhance an effective digital presence. A GoDaddy customer survey found that 77% of microbusinesses believe that having a website would increase revenue, but 50% do not have a website because it seems too difficult or too costly to create one.

Eighty-three percent of the BSOs that work with the Empower by GoDaddy program believe that small business owners need better strategies to expand customer markets, which these days means better digital outreach and e-commerce capabilities.

As a McKinsey study puts it: “Access to technology is vital... Technology companies could play a critical role by providing affordable or free access to digital tools and solutions
to help the most vulnerable companies upgrade their technology and compete in the
digital age.”⁷

"Small businesses with slim margins have little room to invest in the business models and technologies that they will need to survive. It will take collaboration across the economy to keep them afloat."
— McKinsey & Co⁸

With the Empower program, GoDaddy and AEO are doing just that — bringing digital marketing expertise and tools to business owners from all socioeconomic backgrounds to support their success.

Learn more about Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO) here

Learn more about GoDaddy here

_{¹ McKinsey & Co., “How COVID-19 has pushed companies over the technology tipping point—and transformed business forever,” October 5, 2020; https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy- and-corporate-finance/our-insights/how-covid-19-has-pushed-companies-over-the-technology-tipping- point-and-transformed-business-forever?cid=eml-web
² UN News, “Global e-commerce jumps to $26.7 trillion, fueled by COVID-19,” May 3, 2021; https://news. un.org/en/story/2021/05/1091182
³ McKinsey & Co., “Five Fifty: The Quickening,” http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy- and-corporate-finance/our-insights/five-fifty-the-quickening?cid=eml-web
⁴ Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, “The Rise of Everyday Entrepreneurs and Their
Economic Impact on Communities,” 2020; https://www.godaddy.com/ventureforward/wp-content/ uploads/2021/03/HBR_Whitepaper_Apr_2020.pdf
⁵RetailWire, “Did the pandemic change digital marketing for good?” September 10, 2021; https://www. retailwire.com/discussion/did-the-pandemic-change-digital-marketing-for-good/
⁶PYMNTS, “Can SMBs Avoid Being Left Behind In The Great Digital Shift?,” October 12, 2020; https:// www.pymnts.com/smbs/2020/can-smbs-avoid-being-left-behind-in-the-great-digital-shift/
⁷McKinsey & Co., “COVID-19’s effect on minority-owned small businesses in the United States,” May 27, 2020; https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-and-social-sector/our-insights/covid-19s-effect- on-minority-owned-small-businesses-in-the-united-states?cid=eml-web
⁸McKinsey & Co., “US small-business recovery after the COVID-19 crisis,” July 7, 2020; https://www. mckinsey.com/industries/public-and-social-sector/our-insights/us-small-business-recovery-after-the- covid-19-crisis?cid=eml-web}