Main Street America (MSA) launched Main Street Online, a new tool to help businesses grow and strengthen their online and e-commerce capabilities. Supported by GoDaddy, the tool assesses the unique needs of individual small businesses through a series of questions and offers customized guidance for implementing and maximizing solutions to improve their digital presence.
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The tool was conceived after MSA’s survey of nearly 6,000 small business owners in the spring of April revealed that nearly 67 percent had no e-commerce component to their business. Of the one-third that did have e-commerce sales, all indicated that it made up less than 25 percent of their sales volume. Extrapolated out, of the nearly 2.6 million retail businesses with less than 20 employees, more than 1.7 million businesses are in need of an e-commerce sales channel in order to survive during and post-COVID. When asked about technical assistance needs, survey participants identified e-commerce assistance as a top priority.
“The marketplace for e-commerce solutions is crowded and confusing to navigate,” said Matthew Wagner, Ph.D., Chief Program Officer at Main Street America. “Since small businesses are often limited by time and resources, we wanted to develop a tool to help them easily navigate the process of strengthening their online presence as it will be essential to ensure a strong business model moving forward.”
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The tool was designed specifically for small businesses with 20 or fewer employees in the retail, service, and food and beverage sectors. After business owners complete the survey, they receive customized results on everything from POS systems, website platforms, and content creation software to help market their business.
“GoDaddy is on a mission to empower entrepreneurs everywhere by giving them the support and tools they need to succeed online,” added Stacy Cline, Senior Director, Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability at GoDaddy. “We’re thrilled to partner with Main Street America to launch a tool that provides small business owners a resource to navigate all the considerations of how to best bring their ideas online.”
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