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The major processor FIS Inc. said early Wednesday it will work with Web registrar GoDaddy Inc. to offer processing to small and micro merchants for online and in-person transactions. The new service, called Commerce 360, will rely on FIS’s Worldpay processing unit and aims to help sellers reach customers through various channels, including social media and online marketplaces. It comes at a time when small sellers are seeking tools to take advantage of a boom in e-commerce and a return by customers to in-person shopping.
The new service also arrives as Jacksonville, Fla.-based FIS prepares to spin off Worldpay as an independent, publicly held company nearly four years after acquiring the company for $43 billion. Wednesday’s news, meanwhile, represents GoDaddy’s second venture in payments in as many weeks. Last week, the company announced its GoDaddy Payments unit will enable businesses to accept payments through their Web addresses in a new service called Payable Domains. GoDaddy Payments is not involved in processing for Commerce 360.
The two companies bill the new service as arming small businesses with the technology needed to accept payments “in any channel” at a time when consumers are moving more fluidly between in-store and online shopping. They describe Commerce 360 as including a custom-built Web site and merchant dashboard, said to allow sellers to begin accepting payments quickly. Sellers will also be allowed to retain any existing bank relationships, according to Scottsdale, Ariz.-based GoDaddy.
The collaboration is seen as extending Worldpay’s reach among small sellers and allowing GoDaddy to present its payments capabilities to a crucial client base.
Commerce 360 will let small merchants tap into an enlarged base of consumers who flocked to e-commerce following restrictions and store closures imposed after the Covid pandemic set in. U.S. e-commerce sales totaled $262 billion in the fourth quarter, representing nearly 15% of total U.S. sales volume, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, which tracks retail sales.
FIS said earlier this month it plans to divest Worldpay after concluding it couldn’t afford to allocate sufficient capital to the processor to spur its growth. FIS said at the time it will continue to work with Worldpay once the unit sets up as an independent company.
GoDaddy has steadily added payments services since its acquisition in early 2021 of Poynt Inc., a technology company whose product line included a set of advanced point-of-sale devices. Its services, aimed at very small sellers, include assistance in building Web sites.
