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Scott Sanborn
Consumers saw how hard small businesses were hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and now – as they resume in-person shopping and sit-down dining – it appears they want to help.
A recent survey sponsored by Harbor One Bank indicates the pandemic may have changed consumer attitudes in ways that could provide long-term benefits for small businesses – and for town and city centers – as they rebound from the global health crisis of the last two years.
In a poll of 452 consumers conducted for Harbor One by Seven Letter Insight, more than half – 54 percent – said they have gone back to the shopping, dining and purchasing patterns that preceded the virus-driven shutdown. Another 32 percent said they intend to resume traditional in-person shopping and dining levels in the near future.
So, if consumers are either back, or getting ready to go back, has the pandemic changed their behavior? Yes, and small businesses should benefit from it.
First: It is clear that consumers saw how bad the health crisis was for locally owned stores and restaurants, and they want to see those neighborhood or downtown businesses get help. More than half of those surveyed said they had seen a ‘noticeable’ drop in local small businesses caused by the crisis, and a whopping 91 percent of consumers surveyed said they believe the community needs to do more to help remaining small, local shops and restaurants to survive.
More than half of those surveyed said they intend to increase the number of meals they have in restaurants, 46 percent said they expect to patronize local restaurants more in the coming months than they did prior to the pandemic and 41 percent of consumers say they intend to increase their small business shopping. Another bad sign for big box stores and malls? Only 7 percent of respondents said they plan to go back to doing the bulk of their shopping at large retailers.
Smaller, Local Shops See Benefit
Some of the trends toward small business come not just from a desire to help community members who were hit hard, but may also stem from changed habits that came about during the pandemic. While consumers said they had dramatically increased their use of home delivery services for food and goods – no surprise – they also said when they did venture out, it was increasingly to small local restaurants and shops, and during the pandemic 41 percent said they decreased their visits to large retailers compared to only 20 percent who said that type of shopping increased.
Prior to March 2020, only 13 percent of consumers surveyed did more than three-quarters of their shopping with local small businesses. Over 25 percent never shopped locally. As consumers return to pre-pandemic levels of shopping, dining and purchasing, a window is open to influence purchasing decisions.
The pandemic appears to have re-introduced many of us to our local restaurants and hardware or clothing stores, and that change in behavior may stick long past the end of the pandemic. That’s a good thing for local communities and their downtown economies. But some changes appear likely to last.
The shift to online banking, for instance, accelerated during the pandemic. And the habit is sticking for many or most banking customers.
Changes such as these may have been in progress prior to March 2020, but the forced adjustments in lifestyle and routine for most Americans seem to have had an exaggerated effect.
The moment for small businesses is now. It is time to capture a larger share of spending as previous buying and hopping habits resume, and others are being reformulated due to current lifestyles post-pandemic. Community is important to people. We lost touch during the pandemic, and we want to know our neighbors and our shop keepers and consumers want to help their businesses thrive in this new economy.
The return to more familiar consumer behaviors – and the re-embrace of local small business that this data suggests – are certainly positive signs for the future.
Scott Sanborn is executive vice president and chief lending officer at HarborOne Bank
