GoDaddy: Integrated Payments Are Key Differentiator

As more and more commerce moves from in-person to online, integration of payments into online platforms is unlocking new life-changing possibilities.

Payments powering platforms today support use cases beyond eCommerce and retail. They are now being utilized to accomplish everything from delivering solar-powered electricity to residents of remote areas, to enabling startup businesses to boost revenue with new payment acceptance tools.

In the latest Payments Powering Platforms Tracker, powered by WePay, PYMNTS explores the latest developments in the platforms space, including how platform providers of all shapes and sizes are looking to debut new payment-powered solutions.

Around the Payments Powering Platforms World

Digital payment platforms may just be the key to unlocking basic utilities for remote populations.

Kenyan solar energy company M-KOPA is hoping a new partnership with Mastercard can help them bring access to electricity to remote parts of East Africa. According to a recent announcement, M-KOPA will use Mastercard’s Masterpass mobile payment platform to help East African residents afford and access solar power and other basic utilities through a rolling “pay-as-you-go” program.

Meanwhile, in Vietnam, growth in eCommerce is giving a massive boost to overall volume of digital payments. According to recent research, they grew by 22 percent in 2017. Consumers in the country spent more than $6 billion via digital payment platforms last year, and growth is expected to continue to climb in the coming years. In fact, total volume is projected to hit $12.3 billion by 2022.

And in Saudi Arabia, the country’s government is making a move to jumpstart its own online economy. Mada, the country’s domestic payment network, recently announced a new partnership with Mastercard designed to enable online payments via the payment giant’s Gateway Services technology.

For more on these stories and the rest of the latest headlines from around the space, check out the Tracker’s News and Trends section.

GoDaddy Turns to Integrated Payments to Help Boost SMBs

Meanwhile, in the United States, GoDaddy is hoping new integrated features can power its platform to help SMBs grow from fledgling companies to full-grown enterprises.

The website development platform provider is working to integrate capabilities like one-touch payments on SMB websites, payment-integrated appointment calendars and other solutions designed to enable them to better compete in the digital age. For the latest Payments Powering Platforms Tracker feature story, PYMNTS caught up with Greg Goldfarb, GoDaddy’s vice president of products and eCommerce, to find out more about the company’s new initiatives.

Goldfarb told PYMNTS that the company is looking to use payments-powered products and features to stand apart from other players in the space.

“Customer expectations are increasingly being pushed higher and higher,” Goldfarb said. “That’s because of the convenience, the price, all of the factors that lead to the positive interactions these customers are having by shopping online — whether it’s with Amazon Prime or with a small business. We want to help businesses keep up with those expectations by having an interface that is simple for business owners, but offers a robust and full set of features to customers.”

To read the full feature story, along with the latest Payments Powering Platforms headlines and trends – and the rankings of more than 100 industry providers – download the Payments Powering Platforms Tracker.

About the Tracker

The Payments Powering Platforms Tracker serves as a monthly framework for the space, providing coverage of the most recent news and trends, along with a provider directory highlighting the key players contributing across the payments-integrated platform ecosystem.