Millions of homes closed down, small shops "come through the winter"
In the beginning of 2021, the outbreak alert has been sounded again in the first year of the year.
Statistics show that in the past year, more than a million small shops have bid farewell to this world.
In this winter when the anxiety of uncertainty has not been alleviated, how should we support a small shop and support the most basic hope of the livelihood of many people?
1 million stores closed down, what's the truth?
Under the epidemic, small shops are struggling to survive.
Not long ago, the reporter of Banyuetan found in Yingkou Road, a trendy business district in Tianjin that is attractive to young people, that 17 of the 44 shops on the side of the road of more than 900 meters have been closed, and many are in the process of transferring.
"The shops on the whole street are struggling," said a bar owner.
According to the data from the enterprise checkup, from January to November 2020, my country cancelled and cancelled a total of 3.01 million self-employed and transferred enterprises.
"Even if mobile vendors and online shops are excluded, there are still millions of small shops and shops that have closed down." said Cui Fan, a data analyst at Qichacha.
Is this really the case?
The reporter from Banyue Tan asked many industry associations for verification, and the results were impressive.
-The number of bankruptcies in the east is greater than in the midwest.
According to the data of enterprise investigation, the cancellation and cancellation of small shops are mainly concentrated in the eastern coastal areas, with significant differences between the east and the west.
Jiangsu, Guangdong, and Shandong provinces ranked the top three in the country in terms of the number of cancelled stores in 2020.
——In the city, the number of closures of scenic spots and small shops in commercial streets is obviously more than that in communities.
The reporter of Banyuetan visited Northeast, Sichuan, Tianjin and other places and learned that the income of small shops in scenic spots depends on tourists. In the past year, they have been affected by the epidemic and their operations have been particularly bleak; small shops in the community mainly meet the daily needs of residents, with the least impact.
——Small shops that have been in business for 2 to 5 years are most likely to close down.
According to the company's data, 69.4% of the small stores cancelled and cancelled in 2020 have been in operation for less than 5 years.
——Industry that has little relevance to the basic lives of the people has closed down more often.
Judging from the situation in cities such as Tianjin, Changchun, Shenyang, Chengdu, and Guangzhou, many industries such as education, fitness, and bathing have closed down.
An education and training institution called Ark City Children’s Growth Center in Changchun was originally popular with parents. By the end of October last year, all three campuses were closed.
"Enrollment is difficult, and the campus rent burden is also heavy." A person in charge of the agency said.
2 Some struggle, some take risks
There is a small hotel of 30 square meters near the exit of Maluwan Subway Station in Heping District of Shenyang City, which has been deserted recently.
The 50-year-old shopkeeper couldn't help sighing when he saw Ban Yue Tan reporter: "The child is in high school, and the family's income depends on the small restaurant. Now I have lost money and I don't know how the family can support it."
According to the data of the fourth national economic census in 2019, an individual industrial and commercial household can drive 2.37 individuals to employment.
It is not difficult to imagine how many livelihoods will be affected by the closure of a million stores.
It is particularly noteworthy that groups such as female groups, migrant workers from cities, and middle-aged and elderly people over 40 years old have obvious difficulties in reemployment.
The Banyuetan reporter also noticed that some small shopkeepers who had difficulties in business took the risk and embarked on a thief ship for illegal activities.
In order to solve the rent problem, Qin, a milk tea shop owner in Shanghai, opened a pornographic live broadcast room on a live broadcast platform for profit. Not long ago, he was prosecuted by the local People's Procuratorate for the crime of spreading obscene materials for profit.
In addition, the closure of small shops often leaves behind a series of "dead knots", which can easily breed disputes and affect social stability.
Li Jiajin, president of Tianjin Catering Industry Association, recalled that last year, a seafood restaurant near Gulou in Tianjin was hit by the epidemic and the owner ran away.
Many recharged members of the restaurant blocked the restaurant's claim for several days after learning the news. Those present were very excited. After mediation, they changed to the relevant departments to seek resolution.
Some experts have suggested that the closure of small stores will also have a negative impact on the financing of SMEs.
At present, most of the rent received by the landlord of the small shop is invested in the private lending market, becoming the source of the "fund pool" for financing outside the SME bank.
Wang Jingyi, a special researcher of the Digital Finance Research Center of Peking University, believes: "The closure of a large number of small stores will undoubtedly affect the private financing capacity and further narrow the financing channels for small and medium-sized enterprises."
3 How to help a small shop?
Many experts interviewed believe that small shops are the cells of the people's livelihood economy and the last barrier to employment. When small shops are facing special pressures, they should help.
First of all, the grassroots government should promote effective negotiation between store lessors and tenants to reduce rents.
Zhong Lina, secretary of the Party Working Committee of Kaixuan Street, Changchun City, said that after the epidemic, small merchants' operating income has plummeted, and they are unable to afford shop rents.
The local area actively communicated with the mall operators, and the mall decided to waive the two-month rent for all tenant tenants. Starting from the second half of the year, the rent standard was reduced, reducing the pressure on the operating costs of small stores.
Secondly, local governments must break conventions and appropriately adjust their management methods.
In response to the unwillingness of the masses to enter shopping malls during the epidemic, Changchun and other places have organized small merchants in shopping malls to choose the “business spillover” method to help themselves, allowing small merchants to participate in the market stall economy of morning and night markets to increase operating income.
At the same time, it actively guides the orderly development of digital finance to help the economic recovery of small shops.
Studies have shown that digital finance has played a buffering role for small shops in responding to the impact of the epidemic. In particular, precision credit based on big data is of great significance to small shops.
On the one hand, most small shops do not have corporate qualifications or fixed assets, and it is difficult for traditional banks to make credit assessments on them, let alone grant loans; on the other hand, the transaction flow generated by small shop operators on the digital platform can be included in real time The machine learning model of Internet finance enables more accurate risk assessment.
In view of this, many experts said that at the very moment when the epidemic is not over, Internet giants want to practice "technology for good", and they can start with more accurate financing assistance to the small shop economy.
Source: "Ban Yue Tan" Issue 3, 2021
Half a month to talk about reporters: Wang Jinghuai, Yao Shi, Yu Yetong, Hu Xu, and Wu Tao