Small and medium businesses (SMBs) – Page 2

San Francisco, September 18: In a bid to help small and medium businesses (SMBs), social networking giant Facebook has launched Facebook Business Suite, an app for managing business accounts across Facebook, Instagram and Messenger. This newly rolled out Suite is a new interface which aims to help businesses save time and stay up to date by managing their Pages or profiles across its family of apps. The suite allows them to post to Facebook and Instagram at the same time, and manage and receive messages, notifications and alerts in one place.

Facebook said it has announced a Business Suite for small businesses first, adding that it is a long-term investment to make this the main interface for businesses of all sizes who use Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp. The firm added saying that the new facility is available for small businesses globally starting today, i.e. September 17, and will expand to larger businesses next year.

Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer, Facebook, in a blog post on Thursday said people can also easily see what’s working and learn what’s resonating with customers with Facebook and Instagram insights. “The last few months have been tough for small businesses everywhere, and while there are reasons to be optimistic there is still much uncertainty ahead. But whatever happens, Facebook will continue to do all we can to help them adapt, survive and thrive online,” Sandberg said.

Facebook had recently conducted a study on the impact of COVID-19 on consumers’ purchasing patterns and their use of digital tools to search for and interact with businesses The study revealed that half of those surveyed said they had spent more money online overall since the outbreak, and 40 percent have increased their use of social media and online messaging for product and business recommendations.

The survey also found encouraging support for local businesses. In the survey, of those who said they had started shopping at new businesses, nearly three-quarters said that at least one was a small business. Nearly 31 percent also said they will increase their spending with small local businesses once the pandemic is over.

Amazon to Invest $18 Billion This Year to Help SMBs in US to Scale Their Operations and Grow

Seattle, September 2: E-commerce giant Amazon on Wednesday announced that it will invest $18 billion this year to help small and medium businesses (SMBs) scale their operations and grow. The firm stated that in the next 12 months, it will provide more than 5,00,000 SMBs in the US currently selling on Amazon, with online selling guidance, education, and support. Moreover, the company plans to onboard an additional 1,00,000 US businesses as new sellers in its store. Jeff Wilke, CEO Worldwide Consumer at Amazon, said that at Amazon, the mission is to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, and part of fulfilling that mission is connecting small businesses with customers.

Wilke made the statement during Amazon Accelerate, a three-day virtual summit for SMBs in the US that was kicked-off on Tuesday. Wilke further said that Amazon’s success is directly tied to the success of independent businesses across the US. “We are passionate about supporting small businesses, investing and inventing on their behalf to help them be resilient through COVID-19 and beyond,” Wilke added.

Despite the impact of COVID-19 has had on small businesses, many American SMBs selling through Amazon have experienced continued growth. The e-commerce behemoth has launched more than 135 new tools and services this year to help sellers manage and grow their businesses, including new ways to connect brands with customers.

According to a report by IANS, the company said it will spend an additional $100 million this year to promote small businesses during Prime Day and through the holiday season. Last year during Prime Day, third-party sellers – mostly SMBs – exceeded $2 billion in global sales. The report added that the third-party sellers continue to account for more than half of all units sold in Amazon’s store, and even during the pandemic, third-party sales continued to grow faster than Amazon’s first-party sales.