According to Yelp (NYSE: YELP), just under half a million new businesses were listed on the platform in the year since the pandemic began. Some experts and Yelp itself are seeing the data as a source for optimism about the United States' economic recovery.
According to a report by Yelp, 487,577 new businesses were listed on its platform in the yearlong period between March 11, 2020, when the World Health Organization first declared a global pandemic, and March 11, 2021. The figure is down 14% compared to the volume of new businesses opened in years past. In addition to the newly opened businesses, Yelp also found that just over a quarter-million businesses that had been closed due to mitigation restrictions had since re-opened.
When speaking to CNBC in an interview, Vice President of Data Science at Yelp, Justin Norman, expressed optimism at what these figures meant for the United States economy.
"As more and more Americans continue to get vaccinated, case counts continue to lower, and Congress' Covid relief bill that offers additional aid is distributed, we anticipate businesses that were once struggling over the last year will bounce back," he said. "We see this evidenced through the 260,000 businesses that have been able to reopen after temporarily closing."
When digging into the context of Yelp's findings, we begin to see some of the longer-term effects the pandemic had, such as some sectors receiving more new businesses than others. Home and office renovation increased compared to last year, as did the number of new food delivery businesses. Yelp also found some odd yet intriguing figures, such as the 74% rise in the use of psychic services.
Yelp also found that many businesses are changing the way they operate, perhaps permanently. Many companies altered their services to fit the pandemic, such as allowing teleconferenced services, app-enabled delivery and reservation management. Such adaptations would likely help small businesses remain competitive for their client base, as many prominent corporations have already taken steps to permanently integrate similar changes.