By Ben Carsley (@BC_PYMNTS)
According to a 2012 survey by the U.S. Census Bureau, three-fourths of small businesses owners don’t have a website or an online store.
This leads to obvious missed opportunities for said SMBs. Most offline businesses can’t make sales on a 24/7 basis and are limited by geography. They’re at a serious disadvantage compared to large businesses with flourishing eCommerce sites, who can often sell to anyone at anytime, anywhere in the world.
With these disadvantages in mind, Heartland Payments Systems and Bigcommerce are announcing a new partnership today with the rollout of Heartland’s Online Storefront. Billed as a “comprehensive integrated eCommerce platform,” Heartland Online Storefront claims to allow merchants to launch their own online stores very quickly – under an hour, in some cases – with advanced eCommerce tools.
The goal? Giving SMBs a better shot at competing more directly with larger, eCommerce-enabled companies.
“I think one of the key breakthroughs here is, conventionally, eCommerce has been difficult and time consuming. This is still an industry where the average small business setting up an online store can take 30 to 60 days, and that’s an eternity. They can’t wait that long,” Steven R. Power, chief revenue officer at Bigcommerce told PYMNTS.com. “We’re excited about Heartland [Online Storefront] because it’s so fast, we can literally do it that same day, and that’s really disruptive for the whole industry.”
In addition to speed, Heartland Online Storefront offers a “complete omnichannel retailing solution” with features such as a mobile-optimized website, digital marketing tools, integrated payments processing and Bigcommerce’s “abandoned cart saver” option.
Ian Drysdale, Heartland’s president, network solutions, emphasized to PYMNTS.com that such features will help Heartland’s Online Storefront lead to tangible results for small businesses.
“We’re not helping merchants put up a billboard in the desert here,” Drysdale said. “We’re helping them drive new commerce to their businesses and compete with larger competitors.”
According to Power and Drysdale, Heartland Online Store represents the first collaboration between Bigcommerce and Heartland. Power told PYMNTS.com that Bigcommerce has been looking for a “leading partner,” and that there’s a sense of “serendipity” in his company’s work with Heartland. Drysdale said that Heartland evaluated around 15 different companies with web services for merchants, and cited Bigcommerce as “the most capable player.”
Heartland Online Storefront is available through three monthly plans with a range of different support options, and is currently available in the U.S. only.
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