The first round of COVID-19 vaccinations are underway in the United States, and businesses are growing more optimistic about the future than they have been in months. The average small- to mid-sized business (SMB) with locations on Main Street U.S.A. now expects the pandemic to continue impacting their business for another 254 days — down from the average 385 days they expected it to last on Nov. 16.
These Main Street SMBs may be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, but nothing says they will be the same when they finally emerge. All evidence points to the contrary, in fact: The majority of these businesses have added new digital capabilities to meet their customers’ demands for online shopping and purchasing options since the pandemic began, and many of them expect to rely on these capabilities long after the pandemic has subsided.
What are the long-term implications of these businesses’ continued reliance on digital purchasing channels, and how could it shape the Main Street of the post-pandemic economy?
In the Main Street SMBs: The 18-Month Outlook research brief, PYMNTS surveys 582 Main Street SMBs with brick-and-mortar locations to find out how the pandemic has changed their reliance on eCommerce sales and the extent to which they expect to rely on those sales in the near future.
Our research shows that although Main Street SMBs overall are more optimistic about the pandemic’s impact on their bottom lines now that they have been in it for months, there are still many that are struggling to stay afloat — especially given concerns about a second shutdown. Forty-five percent of Main Street SMBs say they are “very” or “extremely” sure they would be able to stay open if new lockdown measures are imposed, while the 
remaining 55 percent are between “not at all” or only “somewhat” sure they would be able to remain open.
Those businesses that can remain open expect to be far more reliant on digital sales than they had been before the pandemic. Our research shows that 67 percent of Main Street SMBs expect that their firms will be either “much more” or “somewhat” more reliant on eCommerce, in fact, compared to only 5 percent that expects to be more reliant on brick-and-mortar sales.
Yet, these findings only scratch the surface of our study. The Main Street SMBs: The 18-month Outlook research brief delves deeper into our extensive research, analyzing how firms of different sizes and sectors expect that the pandemic will alter their business in the long run.
To learn more about the long-term changes that the pandemic will inflict on Main Street U.S.A., download the brief.