Unfortunately, the lockdown has left its mark on many commercial activities, forced to close for months and in some cases unable to restart again. We are all becoming aware of it in these first weeks of the "new normality": the urban panorama is no longer exactly the same, some shutters have remained closed. But how do you know first which shops have remained closed and which ones have reopened? From today, thanks to the initiative of Mastercard and the startup Sixth Sense, a spinoff of the Scuola Sant'Anna University in Pisa, there is a free online research tool.
The site is called aperturenegozi.com and identifies, through a map updated in real time, the open and operational businesses. The selection is based on the transactions registered with Mastercard or Maestro cards in the last 7 days with respect to the time of the search: if there are any, the store is "Open", otherwise a black dot remains with the wording "No info". For starters, the research site shows: restaurants, bars and places to eat, clothing and shoe shops, opticians, laundries and hairdressers. In the coming weeks, the site will include additional business categories in all major locations in both countries whose businesses, due to the pandemic, have only recently reopened.
“The new phase of the emergency we are experiencing – he comments Luca Corti, VP Business Development of Mastercard -, requires a complete rethinking of the management of our daily routines and has brought about new purchasing habits for consumers who are increasingly relying on digital tools. We believe that an online service that is easily accessible from your smartphone, such as aperturenegozi.com, is a first step for merchants to inform their customers, and for consumers to organize themselves better during the days of recovery".
