BDRI Bahamas Digital Readiness Index

Public Research Index · 2026 Edition

The Bahamas is online.
Are its businesses visible?

How ready are small businesses ?

The first structured reading of how 2,604 Bahamian businesses show up across the four doors a customer checks first: Google, website, Facebook, and WhatsApp. Free to read. As of April 2026.

Explore the Index Check your score Soon

Est. 2026 · New Providence, The Bahamas

Why this matters now

The market is here. The question is whether customers can find you.

  1. The market is already online

    12.5 million visitors a year, a $7 billion tourism economy, and 94.8% internet penetration. The customers are already connected. The opportunity is being found by them.

  2. Businesses are showing up

    Google is the most-opened door: 62% of businesses are already there. The momentum is real, and the opportunity is the three doors most haven’t opened yet.

  3. AI is the new front door

    AI search visits grew 42.8% year over year, and AI assistants answer “best X near me” by reading your Google Business Profile. A business invisible to AI search is invisible to a whole new discovery layer.

The opportunity

Most of the upside is still on the table.

3.6%

have all four doors open today

The headroom: 96% of businesses have room to grow on at least one door.

623

Google profiles ready to be claimed

Already on Google, just unmanaged. Claiming one is free and takes about 15 minutes.

0218

reviews, as doors go from 0 to 4

Each door opened multiplies the rest. Presence compounds.

As of April 2026 · 2,604 businesses across 8 industries.

What the index is

A public reading of how Bahamian businesses show up

The Bahamas Digital Readiness Index is the first structured reading of digital readiness across 2,604 businesses in 8 industries. It reads how each appears in the four public places a customer looks before they visit, call, or buy. It is research, not a scorecard of winners and losers. The rankings, the door guides, and a summary of how it was measured are free to read, date-stamped, and written to be cited. The only thing the index ever asks for is an email, and only when you want your own business’s readiness scored for you.

The Four Doors

Four public doors a customer checks first.

Before any call or visit, a customer looks in up to four public places. The index reads how open each one is, and not every business needs every door. Two ways in: learn the framework, or jump straight to the data.

  1. Googlefound & judged
  2. Websitecontrolled & credible
  3. Facebookthe social storefront
  4. WhatsAppthe transaction layer
The framework Which doors matter for your industry The data Where every industry actually stands

The compounding effect

Every door you open multiplies the rest.

Businesses with zero open doors average no reviews and a 31.9 readiness score. Businesses with all four average 218 reviews and a 60.6 score. Doors don’t add. They compound.

Reviews & score by number of open doors · as of April 2026

See the full pattern in The Index: reviews, score, and every industry →
  • 00 doors
  • 631 door
  • 1172 doors
  • 1803 doors
  • 2184 doors
Average Google reviews

Find your industry

See where your industry stands.

Eight industries, each with its own pattern of strong and open doors. Pick yours to see the standing, the gap, and the free fix.

Average doors open per business, by industry · as of April 2026.

The Bahamas reality

Research Online, Buy Offline

Bahamian customers discover and decide online on Google, Facebook, and WhatsApp, then transact in person or over a quick message. That is exactly why digital presence matters more here, not less. The doors aren’t the sale; they’re how the sale starts.

Read why digital matters more in The Bahamas →

Where to go next

For business owners

Where does your business stand?

Check your own digital readiness across the four doors, then open the ones that matter most for your industry. Free, and most fixes take under an hour.

Check your score Soon