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Small businesses are failing to offer the online experiences Gen Zers and Millennials expect, especially when it comes to payments, reveals a survey by GoDaddy Inc., an Internet domain registry and payments-technology company.
While 73% of Gen Zers and 83% of Millennials say a buy online, pickup in-store (BOPIS) option is important to them, just 34% small businesses offer BOPIS. In addition, while 85% of Gen Zers and 82% of Millennials say acceptance of contactless digital payments is important to them, 27% of small businesses do not accept digital wallet transactions.
GoDaddy separately surveyed 1,000 consumers and 1,000 small businesses in the United States. Millennials are generally considered to be persons born between the early 1980s and the mid-1990s. Generation Z consists of persons born between the mid-1990s and the early 2010s.
Another disconnect: Some 55% of Gen Zers and 61% of Millennials say it’s very important to be able to make purchases directly from a business’s Web site, yet 28% of small businesses do not have an online store.
Small businesses that tell their story online are more likely to attract buyers. Indeed, some 65% of consumers say they’re more likely to purchase if they know the personal story of the business. But one in 5 small businesses do not share their stories on their Web sites.
Overall, the survey yielded other disconnects between small businesses and Gen Zers and Millennials. While 91% of small businesses surveyed say they offer customers a convenient online experience, just 21% of consumers and 19% of Gen Zers agree with that assessment, according to GoDaddy. Some 73% of Gen Zers and 75% of Millennials say they would shop more at small businesses if they offered the same convenience as larger chain stores.
“Consumers are ultimately looking for convenience, and if small businesses aren’t meeting these expectations, they’re likely losing business,” GoDaddy’s trends expert, Amy Jennette, says in a statement. Jennette sees signs of improvement, however. “The most important thing is that small businesses are adapting as Gen Z and Millennial preferences evolve beyond what’s been the status quo,” she says.
