Groupon––where customers discover fun things to do and local businesses thrive––is encouraging everyone to celebrate October’s National Women’s Small Business Month by supporting women-owned small businesses in their community. To make it easy for people, Groupon has created a special campaign focused on driving customers to women-owned businesses in its marketplace. The company is also building on the momentum it created during August’s National Black Business Month and Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept.15 – Oct. 15) by continuing a dialogue with national, state and local business leaders to find ways to better support women- and minority-owned businesses, particularly those hurt economically by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a new Groupon survey, a staggering 75 percent of women small business owners said their businesses were negatively impacted by the pandemic.
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“This year, Women’s Small Business Month comes at a time when many women-owned businesses are facing even greater challenges than usual due to the pandemic and they need our help now more than ever.”
The survey, commissioned by Groupon, polled more than 500 women small business owners from around the United States to understand how they’re meeting the challenges that COVID-19 presents, the unique obstacles they face as women entrepreneurs, the secret to their success, and important issues women want to see addressed by the 2020 presidential candidates. The survey also revealed which states have been the most supportive towards women-owned small businesses during the pandemic.
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“Every one of us has a role to play when it comes to investing in the success of small businesses. It’s certainly great to have an entire month and campaign dedicated to the promotion and growth of women-owned businesses, but it’s also very important that we continue to support them all year long,” said Groupon CFO Melissa Thomas. “This year, Women’s Small Business Month comes at a time when many women-owned businesses are facing even greater challenges than usual due to the pandemic and they need our help now more than ever.”
Disproportionate COVID Impact
Women small business owners who took the survey were twice as likely to say that lockdown restrictions implemented to stop the spread of the virus disproportionately affected women- and minority-owned businesses as opposed to saying they impacted all businesses equally. Fifty-four percent said they feared they’d have to permanently close their businesses and one-quarter believe that it will take more than a year for their businesses to get back to normal. Four in 10 of those surveyed who applied for a Paycheck Protection Program loan said they were rejected. And 20% said they either plan to or already had to lay off employees and less than 10% said they plan to hire more people in the next year.
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