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Groupon
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 (gr.pn/wsbm) 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.
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.
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.
Sixty-seven percent of women business owners surveyed said they’re paying close attention to the upcoming 2020 presidential election. When asked to identify their preferred candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden had the support of 47 percent of respondents compared to 34 percent who indicated support for President Donald Trump. The top five issues that women small business owners identified from a list that they want to see addressed by the presidential candidates were the economy (chosen by 75 percent of respondents), healthcare (54 percent), gender equality (43 percent), tax credits and/or cuts (42 percent) and social justice (36 percent).
Groupon is urging consumers to celebrate National Women’s Small Business Month by supporting women-owned businesses in their local communities as well as by making a donation to help provide new women entrepreneurs with much needed access to capital. To find a woman-owned business to support near you, Groupon is highlighting approximately 2,000 women-owned businesses across the United States. These merchants will be featured across Groupon’s mobile, online and social channels throughout the month of October.