Small businesses have experienced a negative trend over the past year, with up to 26 small businesses closing each day, amounting to 9,739 shops that have shut down in the last twelve months, according to data provided by the self-employed association, Uatae. Uatae claims that these figures demonstrate that “small businesses are still in crisis,” due to rising costs, disparities in digitalization, and the strong competition posed by large platforms in the online sales channel.
By region, the most affected is Catalonia, with a loss of 1,679 businesses in the last twelve months, followed by Andalusia (1,631), Castile and León (1,000), and Galicia (984). “We are witnessing a closure of shops that is not only a consequence of recent economic factors but also a structural problem,” explains Uatae’s General Secretary María José Landaburu, who emphasizes that “if urgent measures are not taken, we will continue to see our cities and towns losing life and jobs.”
“We cannot resign ourselves to small businesses closing while large corporations continue to capture market share without restrictions,” asserts Landaburu; therefore, “it is urgent to implement measures that level the playing field.” To curb this situation, Uatae urges the establishment of incentives for digitalization that facilitate the adaptation of businesses to these new forms of consumption.
