After COP26 and in the months leading up to COP27, there have been more public campaigns led by governments, businesses, and individuals. This has helped bring environmental problems to more people’s attention.
This changes the way people shop, the stores they go to, and how much they are willing to spend. Because of this, everyone, from big companies to small startups, needs to improve their policies on sustainability.
This movement to deal with the important problem of climate change has affected almost every part of our lives, especially business. Even though the cost of living is going up, customers still prefer to buy from companies that care about ethics and the environment.
Recent research from GoDaddy shows that 50% of consumers have chosen to buy from small, sustainable companies on purpose in the last year, and 58% are more likely to buy from a small company if it has good credentials for sustainability.
GoDaddy wants to help small businesses grow by making their daily operations more environmentally friendly. We know that everyone’s path to entrepreneurship is different, but when we talk to microbusiness owners, there are a few challenges they have faced that have made it hard for them to stay in business.
The first problem is that making a plan to do this might be scary, since most of them don’t have the right skills for running a business in a sustainable way.
The second thing is money. If you switch to suppliers that are better for the environment, it could affect your income. Sustainable packaging may cost more than other options, and some small business owners are worried that if they raise prices, they will lose customers to competitors who offer lower prices.
The last problem is that many businesses, especially small ones, work from places that are not their own. Builders and handymen, for example, work in the offices of their clients, while single-owner businesses could use shared office space.
Some small businesses might be scared off by the idea of going green, but they should think about the long-term benefits. 30% of consumers say they will only buy from sustainable companies in the future, which could lead to more customers and more money if you invest now.
Small business owners often have to compete with bigger businesses, which often have more suppliers, cheaper goods, and more money. These small businesses have a unique chance to stand out from their bigger competitors by using sustainable methods. According to our study, 42% of customers said that a small store with a good reputation for being environmentally friendly is more likely to get their business than a bigger store that is cheaper.
As expectations for corporate responsibility rise, companies of all sizes need to be more open, and micro businesses are in a great position to start using sustainable practises right away.
GoDaddy is committed to giving business owners around the world more power and giving small business owners more options. Our main goal is to make working and living conditions better for people all over the world. As our customers’ needs have grown and changed over time, we have grown and changed with them.
Because of this, we are proud to work with a wide range of great businesspeople who are building a better future.
Hannah Mills MBE, the best female sailor to ever compete in the Olympics, is an entrepreneur who helps small businesses take these first steps.
After winning gold in Tokyo 2020, Hannah has been focusing on her other passion, The Big Plastic Pledge. Hannah started a campaign to get rid of single-use plastics in sports by finding better ways to do things.
What started out as a sport-specific project is now making a lot of noise among business owners. GoDaddy is happy to have worked with Hannah to create and release a microbusiness toolkit that helps business owners use more environmentally friendly methods. It’s been made available to our two million small business clients in the UK to help them prepare for the future and move closer to the goal of a more sustainable world with less plastic.
Small businesses that care about sustainability are more honest, have less of an impact on the environment, and are better at managing risks. Not only do they help the world and the environment, but they also put themselves in a position to get more clients and make more money.
GoDaddy is lucky to have a global presence, but with that comes a global responsibility. We try to move toward a more sustainable future, just like many of our clients. We are committed to cutting our scope one and scope two greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% by 2025, and we are also working toward a longer-term goal.
