The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically accelerated digital transformation for small businesses, forcing many companies to rely more heavily on banks and digital financial services to manage daily operations and cash flow challenges. New research from Mercator Advisory Group shows significant increases in the use of mobile business banking, payroll processing, mobile deposits, and lending services throughout 2020 as small businesses adapted to unprecedented economic disruption. The findings underscore how financial institutions have become increasingly important partners for small businesses navigating uncertainty during the pandemic.
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Data for today’s episode is provided by Mercator Advisory Group’s report – U.S. Small Businesses are Reeling as a Result of COVID-19
2020 and COVID Have Expanded Small Businesses’ Use of Banking Services:
- Services like ‘mobile business banking’ have seen an increase of small business usage, jumping from 70% in 2019 to 86% in 2020.
- Similarly, ‘Payroll processing services’ were used by 72% of small businesses in 2019 and 86% in 2020.
- 66% of small businesses used mobile deposit and check scanning in 2019; 80% do in 2020.
- In 2019, 63% of small businesses used their bank for advice on managing company finance; 77% of small businesses did so in 2020.
- 58% of small businesses used their bank for leasing in 2019; 71% did in 2020.
- 58% of small businesses used their bank for an equipment loan in 2019; 69% did so in 2020.
- 56% of small businesses used their bank for a vehicle loan in 2019; 68% did so in 2020.
About Report
Mercator Advisory Group’s new Insight Summary Report, 2020 Small Business PaymentsInsights, COVID-19 and B2B Payments & Cards – The Result of the Pandemic, reveals that U.S. small businesses have a much less positive view of the future than in previous years. The report is the first of three from Mercator’s annual Small Business PaymentsInsights Survey Series, a part of Mercator’s Primary Data Service. It is based on findings from Mercator Advisory Group’s online survey of 2,000 U.S. small businesses fielded in March and April 2020.
The report details the ways COVID-19 has changed small businesses and their outlook on the near-term future of their businesses. The report also provides insight into how small businesses bank and pay for goods and services, their banking relationships, how they view technology and their top business concerns.
“Small businesses have been hit hard by the pandemic. In many ways, more than their larger counterparts. Organizations that service small business have an opportunity to help these firms as they try to come out of the COVID crisis,” states the author of the report, Pete Reville, Director of Primary Data Services including Small Business PaymentsInsights Survey Series at Mercator Advisory Group.