4 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Leverage Commerce Innovations to Help Grow Their Business Improving customers' payments experience gives small businesses a leg up in a competitive market.

By Osama Bedier, President of GoDaddy Commerce

Consumer behavior has shifted drastically in recent years, accelerated in large part by the pandemic. Customers now expect their favorite shops to recognize them across channels, remember their preferences, and cater to their favorite options in how they discover, shop, and pay. Businesses need to sell everywhere their customers are, which means small businesses in particular are no longer competitive if they're not available across a variety of relevant marketplaces in tandem with their own online store.

For busy entrepreneurs, this can feel like a lot to juggle. But the good news is, there have been quite a few new developments in commerce tech that help make entrepreneurs' lives easier. Here are four ways small-business owners can tap into commerce innovations to quickly modernize and grow their business.

Use content design tools to boost social conversions.

Many businesses large and small have turned to social media to boost their visibility, and look to video content to drive product awareness and reach new customers. Entrepreneurs should focus on video-centric platforms like TikTok and Instagram that let them communicate directly with their customers and offer a way to form a genuine connection and shared values—something that's become an increasingly important ingredient in building brand loyalty. Free tools like GoDaddy Studio help entrepreneurs easily create beautiful branded and engaging content to use across social platforms and advertisements without requiring a design background.

Business owners should also offer social commerce on their business pages, so engaged followers can purchase instantly, in-context to help prevent customer drop off. As the ability for social users to impulse-buy in the discovery channels increases, social commerce is becoming more critical.

Offer a variety of payment options.

Customers love safe, fast, and easy payment options where they don't have to take out their wallets, and several solutions have gained traction in support of this trend. Provide a variety of payment solutions, especially the most popular solutions that enable purchases on mobile devices, so your customers have the flexibility to choose their most convenient way to pay.

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) options have gone mainstream, increasing the likelihood of a sale by 20% to 30% according to some surveys. Contactless in-person options like NFC Cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and QR codes have skyrocketed. Accounting for less than 5% of transactions before the pandemic, today contactless payments make up more than 40% of all transactions and are expected to become the majority in 2023.

And, of course, small-business owners need to offer e-commerce options on their business' website, such as buy online, pick up in-store. A survey by GoDaddy found that 68% of consumers said they would shop more from small businesses if they could purchase items online.

Save money with every transaction.

Any savvy business owner knows the value in saving money. In 2021, card payments accounted for an average of 50% of small business total sales. With GoDaddy Payments' industry-low transaction fees, businesses can save more than 20% compared to leading competitors, which allows owners to put those dollars toward growing their business.

However, beyond transaction fees, other new commerce innovations allow businesses to sell online without requiring an online store. Now when someone purchases a new domain through GoDaddy, they can easily accept payments from customers with a Payable Domain. It's a branded link that they can post on social media, text, email, instant message and share as a QR code to sell items or services online, even without setting up a website.

Entrepreneurs can customize their Payable Domain with the business' product images, price points, company logo or other branded content. Plus, purchases made on a Payable Domain are synced to their GoDaddy dashboard, so business owners can track and manage every aspect of their business from one central place.

As many entrepreneurs leave their 9-to-5 jobs to pursue their passions, saving money at the onset while they learn the ropes of running a small business can help set them up for long-term success.

Keep an eye on trends.

Since the beginning, the most successful entrepreneurs have anticipated changes in consumer behavior by looking around the corner and being ready to deliver their product or service in that new space first. Increasingly, that change is driven by technological advances, and virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) have the potential to be one of the biggest breakthrough technologies of our lifetime.

For example, the Metaverse uses a combination of virtual and augmented reality, and allows people to have real-time interactions and experiences online, via headsets or other devices, no matter where they are physically located. More businesses are looking to VR and AR as a way to connect with consumers and leverage commerce opportunities. By anticipating technological advances and being on top of breakthrough trends like the Metaverse, entrepreneurs are able to "get it" before it becomes mainstream, and to ride that wave of change to greater success.

Click here to learn more about how GoDaddy can help grow your business and find success online.