Only 26% of Main Street Businesses Have Access to 60 Days of Cash

Main Street USA is operating on the edge, and most are concerned about the impacts of inflation and the uncertain economic forecast.

Most small to midsized businesses (SMBs) that line Main Streets across the country have access to enough cash reserves to stay open for two months or less if their sales dry up or they encounter another cash flow shortfall. We found that 17% of these businesses have access to no funding at all. One sudden jolt in consumer demand puts these businesses at risk of closure, making it critical that these businesses consider pursuing financing options.

“Main Street Health Q1 2023: Using Finance to Ease Recession Fears,” a PYMNTS and Enigma collaboration, provides insights from a survey of 509 SMBs with brick-and-mortar shops in commercial districts across the United States and reveals how business owners are reshaping their economic forecasts for the next 12 months and what they see as the biggest hurdles to staying in business now and in the event of a recession.

Some of our key findings include the following:

• Main Street SMBs are pessimistic about the economy.

The average business has less than two months of cash reserves to weather economic uncertainty, highlighting a widespread need for financing options that can help them in the event of cash flow shortages. Recession worries are widespread, but businesses in different segments have varying levels of concern and resources to weather possible economic uncertainty.

• Personal and consumer services and construction and utility businesses are the least equipped to handle a cash flow shortfall.

We found that 64% of personal services SMBs and 55% of construction and utility SMBs have no financing options readily available. These segments stand to benefit the most from additional funding options. The smallest Main Street SMBs are also at risk, as they are the least likely to have access to emergency financing options.

• Main Street SMBs are concerned about the risk of recession and their limited cash reserves as inflation is already cutting into their bottom lines — and their ability to pay workers.

While 43% of Main Street SMBs say inflation is their most critical challenge and 23% consider economic uncer­tainty their primary challenge, Main Street SMBs face several other significant issues, many of which have changed in the last year.

“Main Street Health Q1 2023: Using Finance to Ease Recession Fears” delivers firsthand insight into SMB finance in the U.S. and their economic forecast for the future.