Shops, a positive balance sheet for 2021

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The traders made their annual activity report. And the least we can say is that the latter is positive, carrying a message of hope for the recovery. After two years marked by lockdowns, and restrictions to guarantee the health security of all… Local shops are finally blowing. It must be said that this period was not conducive to the development of their activity, quite the contrary. However, it has allowed them to transform and evolve sustainably.

Mobilizing customers in favor of local businesses

With the lockdown, businesses deemed non-essential were forced to lower the curtain in March 2020. A situation that has been repeated subsequently with each confinement, bad news for traders. Many of them, taken aback, did not have a fallback solution to continue their activity.

Today, all these difficulties seem to be well outdated, which puts a smile back on the faces of local businesses. In particular, they were able to count on the support and mobilization of customers, well at the rendezvous. Awareness of local productions and crafts has made its way. This attention paid to local businesses, despite the dazzling breakthrough of e-commerce players, especially during the first confinement, allows them today to have a smile.

And for good reason: the average business volume per customer, expressed in euros, increased by 22% compared to the previous year. In addition, the average customer basket remains broadly stable, which shows that the pandemic has not changed customers’ consumption desires. However, these results need to be qualified. Indeed, depending on the region, the trend is not the same. Corsica experienced a significant drop in its average basket (-5.1%) while regions such as Burgundy recorded growth of 2.7%.

Shopping shopping shopping
Businesses are redoubling their efforts to seduce customers.

The emergence of new sales techniques reinforces growth

Businesses can also rely on their experience after these two difficult years. In order to continue to carry out their activity despite the restrictions and constraints, they turned to alternative solutions… Like the digitalization of their activity. Many did not have an internet presence, let alone a platform to sell their products.

The support of some actors for local businesses has thus emerged largely during the first months of the pandemic. Thus, the establishment of “marketplace” type platforms has allowed small merchants to offer their products for sale online. A support that has served as a lifeline for many, and now as a rudder for the future.

The face of businesses has evolved, tending towards more freedom. Thus, in addition to the order on the internet, some offer the delivery or recovery of the order in click and collect. An operation also adopted for restaurants, which have also suffered the full brunt of the pandemic.

For businesses, the time is indeed for recovery. The desire to continue to develop, keeping all the tools made available during the pandemic.

Sources:

2021: a positive balance sheet for the activity of traders in France. Press release of December 17 published by Sumup

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