SMEs at the time of the lockdown: the GoDaddy analysis

We were asking ourselves in the past few days: would we be ready to face a new lockdown? GoDaddy provided an interesting contribution to this debate through his research "Digital transformation during the lockdown: the Italian micro enterprises", whose results paint the profile of a frightened, disarmed sector, but not without reactions. In short: in conclusion, in hindsight, it is possible to say that SMEs have tried. While arriving with heavy delays, although weighed down by serious deficits in terms of computer literacy and adoption of the simplest tools for digitizing workflows, the small business has shown it can react.

GoDaddy: SMEs at the time of the lockdown

It is not clear how much it followed in the days of reopening (and in this sense we have already expressed our pessimism), but the data collected by GoDaddy indicate a group of companies that wanted get your habits in hand with the ability to unhinge them in a few days to try the digital way. Such as? Starting from a website, first of all:

The search for alternative channels took place despite the low level of digitization of micro enterprises in Italy active in the retail, catering and professional studies sectors. For these micro enterprises, the first step for digitization is the opening of a website: however, only 41% manage to use a "" showcase "site in a functional way and make it detectable through search engines. Of these, only 27% manage to attract significant volumes of traffic to their website, recording more than 500 visits per month.

A fifth of shops has enabled online sales systems or delivery: if before the lockdown, 29% of the shops had already experimented with similar services (thus having to find ready in the sight of the sudden challenge that arose), with 18% of the total moved in this direction to a health crisis full-blown:

The most reactive in this area were micro-enterprises of catering: in order to promote products and collect orders, 23% is organized with WhatsApp, the 14% with one-channel e-commerce, 9% through Social Media. Geographically, micro enterprises are most involved in the “rush to digitize” during the emergency were those of the Centre (21%), followed by the South (16%), and finally from the North (11%). However, stresses and GoDaddy, the companies of the Centre and North of the Country were already pre-Covid a greater presence of services of digital sales, respectively, 35% and 31%, compared to 21% in the South.

The work was minor in terms of communication because many had already activated dedicated channel-in this sense, and it is preferred to continue to monetize their own community instead of starting from scratch to invest in new initiatives. Choosing, in this case, although for the long period it would be advisable to have a proattivismo greater and less reliance on improvisation-emergency:

The analysis shows, in fact, as many as 80% of micro-enterprises had already a page on Facebook, and 45% have a profile Instagram in the months before the health emergency. In particular, the micro-enterprises involved in catering in 85% of the cases were already on Facebook and 53% on Instagram.

This analysis of Gianluca Stamerra , Regional Director of GoDaddy for Italy, Spain and France:

The analysis, conducted on micro enterprises during the period of emergency health shows that only a few virtuous cases (10%) have enabled significant investments during the period of lockdown and increased traffic to their site. At the same time, the fact that 63% of small businesses, with the site discoverable is able to generate less than 500 visits a month, demonstrates that there is a huge potential for improvement: that is, adopt tools to improve the visibility of their showcase sites, in order to be found on the Internet, and effectively support the business. Godaddy is ready to support SMES in this process of digitalization, providing a suite of services that allows you to set up a Web site and give it visibility, by providing at the same time marketing tools.

In general, the digital profile of the Italian SMES appears to be significantly improved. This has happened in part to a new awareness in the course of time, but for the most part this trend has undergone a fundamental acceleration due to the need to respond in some way to the problems caused by imposed social isolation. The “ Digital Presence, " Quality ” is leavened of 11 percentage points, which represents the glass half full in this economic storm call Covid.

The initial question must therefore be repeated: we are ready for a new lockdown? No, not yet. But we are less unprepared than before, and this time the natural selection between firms might be far more radical and based on merit.