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Snapshot: Trends in Small and Medium Retail Businesses

These insights on how small and medium retailers navigated the pandemic came from research for the fifth edition of “Small and Medium Business Trends Report.”

Time to read: 6 minutes

Retailers are beginning to see relief from the pandemic’s devastating effects, but the impacts from COVID have forever changed the industry. Not only have they dramatically shifted their present operations, they’ve altered their long-term strategies and direction.

It’s clear that tomorrow’s industry will look much different than when we entered this crisis. In fact, data from a survey conducted by the Harris Poll in the fifth edition of our “Small and Medium Business Trends Report” shows that growing retailers that stepped up to meet the challenges are emerging stronger. We dove deep into the fifth edition of the report’s numbers to identify several industry trends. Let’s take a look.

Key insights

The majority of small and medium retail leaders surveyed agree that their businesses survived the pandemic because of digitization (73%).
85% of leaders said bringing innovative offerings to market is a challenge in meeting customer expectations, with 78% cited difficulty in personalizing customer engagement.
91% of retailers expect to continue offering contactless service after the pandemic.