Small businesses in the Northern Cape experienced the biggest drop in turnover due to the recent bout of loadshedding.
The Yoco Small Business Recovery Monitor showed that from 8 to 22 July the turnover of small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in the country dropped from 72% to 60% versus pre-Covid-19 levels.
The biggest decrease occurred in the Northern Cape, where turnover dropped by 37%.
Yoco is the distributor of point-of-sale devices to more than 80 000 merchants who operate mainly small businesses. It compiles the Yoco Small Business Recovery Monitor which, as far as known, is the only live, publicly available, small business transaction data resource.
The monitor tracks the recovery of small businesses in South Africa through the lockdown.
Yoco says 29% of the SMEs in its database had yet to trade since the outbreak of the pandemic, compared with the same base and trading time frame in 2019. This pointed to a potential business closure rate of almost 30%.
Despite a positive start to July, the recent amendments to advanced Level 3 and loadshedding had hit SMEs hard.
The food and drink industry was the most fragile sector with its turnover levels dropping back below the halfway point to recovery.
This drop to 46% was attributed to the reinstatement of the alcohol ban and the imposition of the curfew, Yoco says.
The health, beauty and fitness industry suffered a decline of -19%. This industry was back to 59% of its pre-Covid-19 level.
Consumer confidence in this sector could also be affecting turnover, as people were reluctant to book services outside of “essentials”, such as a haircut.
The declines were consistent across every province, with the biggest decreases occurring in the Northern Cape.
The combined impact of loadshedding, reintroduction of the alcohol ban and curfew, as well as the surge in Coronavirus cases has overwhelmed many of the businesses who were beginning to stabilise.
