Dive Brief:

• Builder.ai last week launched the Studio Store, a collection of customizable apps created to let small and mid-sized businesses quickly transition to digital, the company announced on its website. 

• With the e-commerce app, retailers can highlight their products on a scrollable carousel, sell their goods to mobile customers and collect payments via various secure payment methods, per the company's statement. The delivery app includes payment integrations, in-app notifications and FedEx integrations, the company also noted. 

• Builder.ai will offer the technology to companies for free for three months from the date of the announcement. The Studio Store is then priced at $500 per month, the company stated.

Dive Insight:

Add Builder.ai to the list of companies looking to assist small businesses during the COVID-19 outbreak. Other companies, including Facebook and eBay have introduced new technologies or initiatives aimed at uplifting small businesses during the coronavirus pandemic.

Builder.ai noted in its statement that it aims to both help small businesses greatly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic and make building a digital presence affordable and accessible. 

"We are seeing a disruption across all industries globally by COVID-19, and the way many of us interact with our customers overnight has stopped, changed or morphed," Sachin Dev Duggal, Builder.ai co-founder and CEO, said in a statement. "Among those most vulnerable are the smaller businesses without an online presence that depend on their customers to walk through their doors."

The coronavirus outbreak has hit small retailers especially hard. Some retailers were already struggling prior to the coronavirus pandemic, but the outbreak has upended non-essential retailers, and analysts doubt whether a pivot to e-commerce will make up for the lost foot traffic.

"Businesses need to adapt to survive. Customers now expect to communicate with businesses via digital channels – whether it's through an app or a website. However, while businesses recognize this, a lack of skills, coding or technical knowledge has traditionally been a barrier," Duggal said in a statement.