CANBERRA: GoDaddy has formally launched its Australian operations in hope to tap into the small business landscape, and help them get online.
As part of the launch, the company has appointed Tara Commerford as GoDaddy Australia and New Zealand country manager. Commerford joins GoDaddy from LinkedIn Australia where she was head of communications.
Speaking about the company’s launch in Australia, Commerford said creating a local presence will give GoDaddy the opportunity to fill a gap in the Australian market where over 90 percent of Australian SMEs have internet access, but less than half a website.
“It’s a significantly underserved market, and we feel like there’s a clear gap in the understanding between internet penetration…and the value a digital investment can bring to small business,” she said.
The official expansion comes after the company used Australia as one of four tier one test beds before it rolled out its business internationally.
James Carroll, GoDaddy international executive vice president said the uptake of its services in Australia during the pilot was a testament of the potential success the company would experience if it expanded globally. Last year, GoDaddy rolled out to Latin America and parts of Europe, and now operates in 17 languages and 37 countries.
Carroll said there are plans for the business to enter Asia and the Middle East next year. “We have quite an aggressive plan and we’re well underway,” he said.
To set this up, Rajiv Sodhi, GoDaddy India and Australia vice president, said the company’s strategy is focused on three key pillars: Increase SMEs’ awareness around the ease of getting online; making its services relevant local markets; and providing 24/7 care, both inbound and outbound.
GoDaddy operates call centre facilities in the US, Europe, and in Asia, and its Arizona-based facility currently services the Australian market.
In April, GoDaddy became a publicly listed firm on Wall Street where shares opened at $26.15, after the company anticipated prices were only going to reach $20.
Shortly after listing, GoDaddy acquired $28 million worth of domains from Marchex, which is represented approximately 200,000 domain names.
The Arizona-based company reported a net loss of $43.4 million during its first quarter, but managed to grow total bookings by 13.7 percent year-over-year to $498.7 million during the period.
