Small Business
Small Businesses Continue to Reopen and Rebuild
54% of small business owners polled said their communities were already starting to work together on reopening the local economy and planning the recovery.
May. 12, 2020
While it’s no surprise, 85% of small businesses recently surveyed say they’ve been negatively impacted, with 75% in the U.S. and Canada saying the effects have been very significant. The survey was conducted by Alignable.com, an online referral network for small businesses across North America, which has tracked the impact of COVID-19 on small businesses since March 13.
Additional results show that many states and provinces across North America are slowly starting to reopen their economies or putting plans in place to begin soon. Using data collected from 360,000+ small businesses, as well as advice from recovery experts, Alignable has created a report on the current state of small business economies, including a disaster recovery roadmap to guide small business communities.
Here’s the rundown of key report findings:
- 54% of small business owners polled said their communities were already starting to work together on reopening the local economy and planning the recovery.
- 53% believe they’ll be able to relaunch within a month after stay-at-home restrictions are lifted.
- 25% predict they’ll be back to pre-COVID-19 levels of revenue and employment in a month’s time; 36% believe they’ll reach that milestone in three months.
- 38% are worried customers will be too afraid to come back to their businesses.
- 36% expressed concern about being shut down again by the state or federal government if there’s another major outbreak.
- 23% assert that the recovery requires a well-coordinated effort among state governments, local officials, small businesses, and consumers.
- 19% said a vaccine is needed for a full recovery.
Based on the report, several of these statistics were encouraging for several reasons. Disaster recovery experts contend that the success and speed of each community’s recovery will depend a great deal on how well-organized the effort is, along with how dedicated community members are to making it happen.
Beyond that, the more people who have mastered parts of their recovery can share advice with others who are not as well-organized, the faster many businesses will recover, eventually lifting the entire economy.
“Our report and recovery roadmap were designed to give many small business owners a headstart in their recovery, because they face unprecedented challenges,” said Eric Groves, Alignable’s CEO and Co-Founder. “But with the right plans in place, that wonderful can-do attitude entrepreneurs are known for, and ongoing support from our network and others, many small business owners will eventually recover and create their new normal.” At this point, it’s difficult to estimate how quickly the recovery will occur and where it will happen first. But, based on previous disasters, the report predicts a full recovery could take at least a few years. Read the full report here.