More than 81 million individual industrial and commercial households across the country have suffered from heavy operating pressure since the outbreak of new crown pneumonia. Insufficient consumer demand, increased rent cost, tight cash flow and insufficient competitiveness have become the biggest challenges for self-employed individuals to survive.
how to do everything possible to make small and medium-sized enterprises and self-employed individuals survive? Did a series of policies and measures promulgated by the state have any actual effect? How are the breakfast stalls, small restaurants and canteens that ordinary people deal with every day? Recently, Economic Daily-China Economic Net reporters interviewed a number of individual businesses from Beijing, Wuhan, Chongqing, Tianjin, Wenzhou and other places by telephone and interview to see what help they need most and how they can tide over the difficulties.
There are more than 81 million individual industrial and commercial households in China, and their return to work affects thousands of households. According to the "Survey on the Operation Status of Individual and Private Enterprises" conducted by China Association of Individual Workers and Hongdun Big Data (Beijing) Co., Ltd., by the end of March, the return rate of individual industrial and commercial households and private enterprises was nearly 81%, of which the return rate of private enterprises was 79.2% and the return rate of individual industrial and commercial households was 81.1%.
Even so, the road for self-employed people to return to work is still very difficult. 91.5% of the individual industrial and commercial households and private enterprises that have returned to work have indicated that their business performance has declined, among which 64.8% of the respondents have indicated a sharp decline.
in view of the difficulties, recently, the state and local governments have issued many special policies to support the self-employed. Official website, the website of the Chinese government and the General Administration of Market Supervision, launched a questionnaire to collect the problems encountered by self-employed individuals, so as to make more targeted policies.
The pressure of rent needs to be alleviated
"Today, I finally received news that I will reduce the rent for one month." On May 9, Xiao Luofa, the owner of Shuguang Supermarket, Textile Road, Hongshan District, Wuhan, told reporters that this was the best news he had received since the outbreak.
in June p>2119, Xiao Luo opened this small supermarket. Although it is not big, because it is close to the famous Wuhan Optical Valley and the gate of the community, the daily flow of people entering and leaving the store can reach 1,111 to 2,111, and the business in the store is not bad, with about 8,111 yuan of running water every day.
After being closed for more than two months due to the COVID-19 epidemic, Ronaldinho, who reopened his business, found that only 31 to 41 people passed by the supermarket every day, and the daily running water in the store plummeted from 8,111 yuan to 411 yuan. Because most of the residents in the residential area are tenants working nearby, the enterprises have not completely resumed their work, and the tenants have not returned. The commercial street in the former crowded residential area has become deserted.
"The landlord will not reduce the rent, let alone free it. Some community tenants have no salary for several months, and they can't afford to rent and have to leave. " Some people who opened stores together have left, and Ronaldinho is worried that his shop won't last long. "My store rents 21,111 yuan per month, and it has been signed for three years, and it will increase by 8% two years after the contract." Ronaldinho calculated that with the current monthly income of more than 111,111 yuan, plus the loss of business in February and March, it is difficult for him to persist. The inventory in the store is also approaching the shelf life, so it can only be discounted or thrown away.
obviously, the rent is the biggest cost for individual industrial and commercial households. The CPC Central Committee and the State Council have been paying close attention to the rent reduction and exemption of small and medium-sized enterprises and self-employed, and have made many arrangements. As early as the early outbreak of the epidemic, the Guiding Opinions on Increasing Support for Individual Industrial and Commercial Households in Response to the Impact of the Epidemic, issued by the General Administration of Market Supervision and other six departments, proposed to encourage all localities to reduce the rent of individual industrial and commercial households in light of the actual situation.
However, for rent reduction and exemption, the state-owned collective property is widely used everywhere. Most of the self-employed and private enterprises rent private properties, so it is difficult to enjoy rent reduction and exemption, and it is impossible for local governments to force private properties to reduce or exempt rent. Therefore, they can only encourage private properties to reduce or exempt rent through communication and subsidize them indirectly. In many places, the solution is for private owners to reduce rent, so the property tax and land use tax of the property will also be reduced accordingly.
Mingshun grocery store, which is also in Wuhan, rents state-owned property. The proprietress Zhou Xueli told reporters that they received a notice of rent reduction two months ago. Ronaldinho rented a private property, so the good news came later. In addition, some private properties in Wuhan have reduced their rent for three months.
On May 11, the National Development and Reform Commission and other eight ministries and commissions jointly issued the Guiding Opinions on Further Helping Small and Micro Enterprises and Individual Industrial and Commercial Households in the Service Industry to Relieve the Pressure of Housing Rent in Response to the COVID-19 Epidemic. In addition to continuing to waive the housing rent for the first three months of the first half of the year for state-owned properties, non-state-owned lessors were encouraged to reduce or postpone the collection of housing rent again. Moreover, it is clearly stated in the Guiding Opinions that lessors who reduce or exempt rents can reduce the property tax and urban land use tax in the current year according to the current regulations, and guide state-owned banking financial institutions to increase the preferential interest rate of small loans for small and micro enterprises and individual industrial and commercial households in the service industry during the year, which is specially used to pay housing rents. For lessors who actually reduce or exempt housing rents, state-owned banking financial institutions will be guided to give preferential interest rate pledge loan support based on housing rental income within the year as needed. It can be predicted that this will encourage more private property lessors to reduce or waive the rent, thus overcoming the difficulties.
Consumer confidence needs to be restored
"After Beijing lowered the level of prevention and control, business has improved somewhat." After the May Day holiday, Li Fanglan, the proprietress of Beijing Yuwei Sichuan Restaurant at No.46 Yonghegong Street, saw hope.
I still remember that on April 29th, when the reporter interviewed Li Fanglan for the first time in the store, there was not a table of guests in the store at lunch time, and all the people who picked up meals sporadically were takeaway brothers. The cost of the small restaurant, such as rent, staff salaries, utilities, etc., overwhelmed Li Fanglan. Although she made up part of it through take-away promotion, it was far from enough to make up for the loss. "In the past, there was a daily income of 11,111 yuan for dining, but now it is only from 811 yuan to 1,111 yuan. In the past, after 9 o'clock in the evening, employees from Hu Da and Jin Dingxuan in the surrounding Guijie Street would come to the store for supper after work, and the room was full. Now they are not coming. " Li Fanglan also found that the surrounding residents and old customers did not dare to come to the store to eat, and everyone was used to buying things and going home to cook.
Mr. Chen, the owner of Easy Life Convenience Store in Yubei District, Chongqing, is close to the community and the station. Although the passenger flow has not dropped significantly, there are obviously fewer people buying things. It is estimated that the recent income of the store will drop by at least 51% compared with the same period.
Wenzhou Ruian Ankang convenience store is located on the road outside the community, surrounded by many small and medium-sized enterprises and many leisure and entertainment businesses, which is a good location for doing business. The owner, Mr. Wang, told the reporter that business was better during the epidemic, and residents in the community could not go out, and there were more than 1,111 orders online a day. Now the epidemic has eased, online sales have dropped to only a dozen orders a day, and offline consumption has also recovered. It is understood that the enterprises around the store have not completely resumed work, the factory does not start work, the entertainment venues do not go to work, and the people left behind do not have much income, so they dare not spend.
In Aidit convenience store in Beichen District, Tianjin, the clerk is sorting out the goods. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)
In the convenience store in Aidit, No.3 Ruijing West Road, Beichen District, Tianjin, Mr. Ma, the owner, also found that the flow of people has become a big problem. "I haven't completely resumed work, and my revenue has dropped by about 41%." As the gym next door is out of business, the traffic in the store has also dropped sharply.
From a national perspective, rent pressure, insufficient consumer demand and tight cash flow are the three most serious difficulties faced by individual and private owners. 91.3% of the respondents indicated that there were some difficulties in operation. Among them, 48.7% of the respondents felt that the rent pressure was high, 43.3% of the respondents said that the epidemic had led to a decline in market demand, and 43% of the respondents had tight cash flow.
in a word, if the confidence of consumers is not restored, the business of merchants will be out of the question. With the reduction of prevention and control levels in various places, the epidemic situation has gradually improved and consumer confidence has gradually recovered.
"After Labor Day, the canteen food has recovered a little, and I can earn hundreds of dollars more every day." Li Fanglan said, "As long as consumers dare to go out and spend, I am not afraid of not making money."
dislocation competition on the transformation line
Mr. Chen, the owner of a convenience store, has been running a convenience store for 11 years. He started online very early and took orders when he was hungry. "In the past, the store could only cover the neighborhood, but now it can sell things to customers two or three kilometers away, and the customer base is much larger than before." Mr. Chen calculated that before the epidemic, the daily online order could reach about 5,111 yuan, and the monthly online flow was 1.7 million yuan to 1.2 million/211 thousand yuan.
Mr. Chen attributed his small achievements to misplaced competition. "Small stores are no better than big supermarkets and big platforms. They have limited bargaining power and no advantage in price." Mr. Chen said that he has a better understanding of the needs of residents in the community, and things that are not available in big supermarkets can be bought here. At the same time, after-sales service is also the strength of the store. Consumers will not install the faucet after buying it, and Mr. Chen can come to the door with a phone call.
In today's transformation line, Mr. Chen thinks that there is still dislocation competition, but the accounts should be more precise. "The snacks sold in my store are all online celebrity brands, such as three squirrels and herbs. Every day, all kinds of discounts, discounts and promotions are designed." Mr. Chen said that the platform is heavily subsidized. If you want to participate in platform activities more, you may not make money for every order, but after the traffic is large, the platform will give support and provide better recommended positions.
"It takes a lot of thought to maintain this old shop for more than 21 years." Shirley Zhou also thinks that the online game is different now. There are 15% to 31% profits offline, and only 11% to 12% online at most. Therefore, she stared at several online platforms to take orders at the same time. Some platforms sold fruits and vegetables well, and some daily necessities sold well. She didn't give up any of them and pushed some goods in a targeted manner.
in the catering industry, it is not as easy as expected for small shops to transform into take-out. In the public comment, the take-away of Yuwei Sichuan food has launched a promotion activity of "over 31 minus 13". Of the 13 yuan reduced, 11 yuan is borne by the store itself. The reporter from Economic Daily-China Economic Net saw that the take-away food to be taken at the door was basically around 21 yuan or 31 yuan. The lowest order included the delivery fee of 4 yuan, totaling 21.5 yuan, and the store only received 17.5 yuan, in which the commission for the US delegation and the subsidy for the rider had to be removed.
"How to set the full discount and how to price the dishes are all calculated by Meituan, referring to the pricing and promotion range of similar restaurants around." Li Fanglan told reporters that although the current price is low, at least we have found a balance point that can maintain low profit and drain. She also hopes that Meituan can promote more large-scale activities, so that more businesses can participate together and form a joint force to attract consumers' consumption.
Shirley Zhou also hopes that the online platform can do more things, such as "building a brand, so that these scattered Tmall stores can be upgraded into chain convenience stores like' Family',' Rosen' and' 7-11', which can be promoted and drained together".
for Mr. Chen, this year is the most difficult year since he opened the store for more than 11 years. Although it is not easy to open a store, his tone in the interview is still firm and powerful: "There is a mortgage and a car loan. This convenience store is all the hope of our family, and we must stick to it no matter how difficult it is. I believe that everything will be better after the epidemic has passed. "