Visa revealed findings from the seventh edition of its Global Back to Business Study, which found that a majority of surveyed small and micro businesses (SMBs) plan to prioritize cross-border sales as they look to scale beyond Main Street and High Street to new geographies.
What were the findings of the report?
It found that a growing number of consumers are embracing cashless transactions, with nearly 60% of shoppers predicting they will use digital payments more frequently this year.
Looking beyond pandemic-era challenges to the full arc of opportunities ahead, Visa’s Global Back to Business Study surveyed small business owners and consumers in ten markets, across the planet. These included Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore, United Arab Emirates and United States (US). Key insights include:
- The world is their marketplace. Seventy-nine percent of surveyed business owners cited expanding into new geographies as a focus for growth. A high number (72%) of consumers said they already feel comfortable buying across borders.
- Leaving paper behind. While 95% of small business owners surveyed planned to be cashless “someday,” 51% planned to make that shift in the next two years. Consumers lead this shift, with 55% of those surveyed predicting they will use digital payments more in the coming year.
- Shopping small. Forty-nine percent of consumers intended to shop more at local businesses this year as they look to support the local economy (65%) or make a personal connection (44%) in their community.
- The To Do list. Business owners cited increasing social media presence (44%), offering new products or services (41%) and investing more in marketing (40%) as the top opportunities to reach new customers, with 35% eyeing accepting new forms of payment as a crucial area that can help them improve their business.
How is Visa supporting small businesses to grow?
“It used to be that only big businesses could scale to access clients across the country or around the world, but today’s SMB owner can be virtually borderless. At Visa, we’re seeing the small business mindset shift from survival mode to growth mode, as SMBs harness the power of digital payments to improve efficiencies, reach new audiences and thrive in today’s increasingly digital world,” said Jeni Mundy, Global Head of Merchant Sales and Acquiring, Visa.
SMBs are anything but small to Visa. Through various localized programs and solutions, Visa enables SMB owners to meet the changing demands of commerce and consumer needs.
Visa offers payment services designed to help SMBs pay and get paid, like Visa Business credit and debit cards through associated financial institutions, business and payment management tools, fraud and security services, etc. Visa provides financial education and business skills training, including Practical Business Skills globally and Enko in Latin America.
In 2020, Visa Foundation announced a five-year, $200 million commitment to support the establishment and growth of thriving small and micro businesses with a focus on women entrepreneurs. Through investments and grant-making activity, Visa Foundation partners with organizations that provide catalytic capital, capacity building and support services. Also, Visa Foundation uses capital to enable the flow of investment capital to gender diverse SMBs.
Additional resources for small and micro businesses can be found here.
