CAPE TOWN - After a month on Level 3 of the lockdown, average weekly turnover among small- and medium-sized businesses (SME) has improved 2.49 percent as of July 8, with the Yoco Small Business Recovery Monitor index at an average 72 percent versus pre-Covid-19 levels.
SME’s have faced severe financial difficulty through the lockdown. Yoco, a distributor of point-of-sale devices, publishes the Small Business Recovery Monitor, which, as far as is known, is the only live, publicly available, small business transaction data resource.
The index can be used by entrepreneurs to benchmark performance and aid decision-making through the tough trading period.
The improvement in turnover was attributed to increased trading over the weekend, as well as the health and beauty industry reopening under the advanced Level 3 regulations.
The biggest subcategories in the health and beauty industry driving turnover were hair and beauty salons, although there was a crossover in how these businesses were categorised in the index.
The weekly average for health and beauty industry was at 78 percent of pre-Covid-19 levels, by July 8.
The food and drink industry was at an average of 53 percent vs pre-Covid-19 levels. The sit-down restaurant regulations were clarified after those for salons, so the index level might continue growing.
Restaurants were likely have more work to do to be able to meet regulatory requirements and would face some challenges in winning consumer trust.
There had also been a significant movement in weekend trading with Saturday (July 4) trading at 60 percent of pre-Covid levels. This compared with comparably much lower weekend trading through the lockdown generally.
The health and beauty sector didn’t appear to be affected by the same weekend depressions that other industries had been experiencing in prior weeks.
The Western Cape remained behind the rest of the country in activity, and although its weekly average was up 4.42 percent, it was still at a level of only 61 percent versus preCovid-19 levels.
This could be due to the volume of businesses that were impacted by the movement restrictions, as well as the number of businesses in the province that rely on tourism for business traffic.
Despite an increase in Covid-19 cases, Gauteng was stable at 73 percent week to week.
SME turnover was static in the week prior to advanced Level 3, with the total index at 55 percent vs pre-Covid-19 levels, but the seven days to July 1 saw the biggest weekly positive movement since the start of lockdown, with total SME turnover increasing from 55 percent to 70 percent.
In that week, the increase was driven by a big spike in turnover for the health/beauty and fitness industries, driven by hairdressers, barbers and spas.
The food/beverage had the smallest weekly improvement in the week to July 1, increasing by 9 percent to 47 percent compared with their pre-Covid-19 level.
“This sector remains in the most in danger of an extremely slow recovery as the advanced Level 3 regulations have not significantly moved the needle,” Yoco said at the time.
Source: https://www.iol.co.za/business-report/sme-weekly-turnover-improves-as-health-and-beauty-industry-reopends-50832534