The COVID crisis has battered many industries and companies. Website builders and eCommerce platform providers, on the other hand, have been among the winners.
Companies like Wix and GoDaddy experiencing solid customer growth during the crisis. And Shopify‘s share price has skyrocketed during the crisis, leading the charge to help SMBs move overnight from offline to online sales.
So business may be good for those offering presence and commerce solutions to small businesses. However, the pressure to innovate and roll out new solutions is relentless. The crisis has created so many new needs for SMBs. Those that aren’t working around the clock to address these emerging needs will be left in the dust.
As we’ve been covering in our ongoing series about website builders, the pressure to expand product offerings to remain competitive isn’t new. However, the pandemic has amped up the pace and urgency.
In this context, Wix has expanded its eCommerce offering with a new set of tools pitting it even more squarely against Shopify.
Wix’s new solutions include:
- Customizable individual storefronts and shopping carts
- “Hassle-free” dropshipping
- Native payment processing via Wix Payments
- Analytics and report creation
- Shipping and fulfillment capabilities.
“Now more than ever, owners need a comprehensive platform to move every aspect of their business online,” said Avishai Abrahami, Co-founder and CEO, in a statement.
“Online shopping has entered a stage of hyper-growth, and businesses need the resources to meet this increasing demand. From selling products or services and getting paid online to managing finances, fulfillment, sales channels, and more, our new eCommerce functionalities are designed to help our customers sell anything, anywhere.”
The launch of a native payment solution is particularly critical. It signals that Wix is serious about being an eCommerce player.
Other News from the Presence Front
Despite also experience solid growth during the pandemic, GoDaddy is cutting hundreds of jobs, primarily in Austin, Texas. At first glance, this decision seems counterintuitive. However, as we look closely at the actual jobs being cut, the move starts to make more sense.
The job cuts come primarily from the team selling the company’s do-it-for-me (DIFM) GoDaddy Social product.
While it seems pretty clear that the pandemic is a boon for DIY solutions, white-glove services face a higher risk. Small businesses today have more time to figure out DIY solutions that might help their businesses. For example, a website or an online store. At the same time, they have fewer resources on hand to pay for full-service solutions.
