Facebook has been publishing its Global State of Small Businesses Report since July, and it recently published the report’s Wave IV version. The report analyzes how the coronavirus pandemic and implemented lockdowns affect small and medium businesses around the world. Facebook gathers data from 30,000 small businesses from 50 different countries and takes a look at how each one fights through the pandemic and zeroes in on what they struggle with the most.
While businesses are still shutting down across the globe, as per Facebook’s last report, their numbers have dwindled. The disparity in sales on a year-on-year basis is also less significant than expected, which highlights the move toward recovery. The report also includes other key trends marketers need to look out for to analyze how SMBs around the world are doing.
This is what Facebook had to say:
“This study has provided an update on the ongoing impacts of COVID-19 on SMBs. Although there has been a continued improvement in the proportion of businesses reporting that they had closed or seen lower sales, the pace of improvement has slowed, in part reflecting considerable uncertainty. Many countries have extended or re-imposed lockdown measures in response to rising cases, while in other countries, employment and financial support schemes are due to expire soon. This study has also developed more detailed insights into the impact the pandemic is having on female and male business leaders. The analysis found that female business leaders have typically faced worse business outcomes and increased domestic responsibilities relative to male business leaders, even when controlling for factors such as size of business, geography, and years of operation.”
Implications for Marketers:
Marketers need to be aware of the shifting trends to analyze their next moves following the pandemic. It would also be good to study how these trends move to better find ways to cater to their target audiences’ needs.
References:
https://dataforgood.fb.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/State-of-Small-Business-Report-Wave-IV.pdf
