Almost one in two SMEs in 2020 changed their business model to move to the rules imposed by digital. Indeed, 20% in the months of the pandemic conceived and developed new business areas. Then there are those who have opened their own area for e-commerce or other online sales channels. This is the picture taken by the GoDaddy Observatory, a consulting company that provides new paths and strategies for online. According to the GoDaddy Observatory, 46% of Italian SMEs managed to change their business model and even in 20% of cases to develop new areas, with a better percentage than 17% in Germany and 14% in France, for adapt the business to the new needs imposed by the pandemic and the limitations put in place. Companies have implemented new products and services to respond to the economic crisis, especially expanding their technological skills and increasing the use of digital solutions. The Observatory was carried out by Kantar on a sample of about 5,100 small and medium-sized enterprises with a number of employees between 1 and 49, distributed equally between Italy, Germany, France and Spain, with a particular focus on the impact that the pandemic has had on the business of these companies. As for online commerce, one third of Italian SMEs use social media to promote products and services but only 12% use a marketplace. This is a recent trend because a third of the companies surveyed have in fact started selling online in the last two years. Under the pressure of the pandemic, 13% of small Italian companies have opened or further developed their e-commerce or their online sales channels, against 7% in Germany and 8% in France, and with Spain settling down at 12%. “During the lockdown we witnessed an acceleration in the use of digital tools at all levels – for smart working, distance learning, e-commerce – which allowed Italy to recover a technological gap that it had been suffering for years , especially towards other European countries. Although the data show that forced closures have damaged the turnover of many companies, Italy was the market in which we noticed a more proactive response from entrepreneurs to find new, yet unexplored business areas “explains Gianluca Stamerra, Regional director by GoDaddy for Italy, Spain and France.
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